The real problem with Americans and their disrespect for Obama—according to a CanadianWritten By William Thomas

There was a time not so long ago when Americans, regardless of their political stripes, rallied ’round their president. Once elected, the man who won the White House was no longer viewed as a Republican or Democrat, but the president of the United States. The oath of office was taken, the wagons were circled around the country’s borders, and it was America versus the rest of the world, with the president of all the people at the helm.

Suddenly president Barack Obama, with the potential to become an exceptional president, has become the glaring exception to that unwritten, patriotic rule.

Four days before Obama’s inauguration, before he officially took charge of the American government, Rush Limbaugh boasted publicly that he hoped the president would fail. Of course, when the president fails, the country flounders. Wishing harm upon your country in order to further your own narrow political views is selfish, sinister and a tad treasonous as well.

Subsequently, during his State of the Union address, which is pretty much a pep rally for America, an unknown congressional representative from South Carolina, later identified as Joe Wilson, stopped the show when he called the president of the United States a liar. The president showed great restraint in ignoring this unprecedented insult and carried on with his speech. Speaker Nancy Pelosi was so stunned by the slur, she forgot to jump to her feet while clapping wildly, 30 or 40 times after that.

Last spring, president Obama took his wife Michelle to see a play in New York City and Republicans attacked him over the cost of security for the excursion. The president can’t take his wife out to dinner and a show without being scrutinized by the political opposition? As history has proven, a president in a theater without adequate security is a tragically bad idea. (Remember: “Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?”)

At some point, the treatment of president Obama went from offensive to ugly, and then to downright dangerous.The healthcare debate, which looked more like extreme fighting in a mud pit than a national dialogue, revealed a very vulgar side of America. Obama’s face appeared on protest signs, white-faced and blood-mouthed in a satanic clown image. In other tasteless portrayals, people who disagreed with his position distorted his face to look like Hitler, complete with mustache and swastika.

Odd that burning the flag makes Americans crazy, but depicting the president as a clown and a maniacal fascist is accepted as part of the new rude America.

Maligning the image of the leader of the free world is one thing; putting the president’s life in peril is quite another. More than once, men with guns were videotaped at the healthcare rallies where the president spoke. Again, history shows that letting men with guns get within range of a president has not served America well in the past.

And still the “birthers” are out there claiming Barack Obama was not born in the United States, although public documentation proves otherwise. Hawaii is definitely part of the United States, but the Panama Canal Zone where his electoral opponent Senator John McCain was born? Nobody’s sure.

Last month, a 44-year-old woman in Buffalo was quite taken by president Obama when she met him in a chicken wing restaurant called Duff’s. Did she say something about a pleasure and an honor to meet the man, or utter encouraging words for the difficult job he is doing? No. Quote: “You’re a hottie with a smokin’ little body.”Lady, that was the president of the United States you were addressing, not one of the Jonas Brothers! He’s your president, for goodness sakes, not the guy driving the Zamboni at “Monster Trucks On Ice.” Maybe next it’ll be, “Take Your President To A Topless Bar Day.”

In president Barack Obama, Americans have a charismatic leader with a good and honest heart. Unlike his predecessor, he’s a very intelligent leader. And unlike that president’s predecessor, he’s a highly moral man.

In president Obama, Americans have the real deal, the whole package, and a leader that citizens of almost every country around the world look to with great envy. Given the opportunity, Canadians would trade our leader—hell, most of our leaders—for Obama in a heartbeat.

What America has in Obama is a head of state with vitality and insight and youth. Think about it: Barack Obama is a young Nelson Mandela. Mandela was the face of change and charity for all of Africa, but he was too old to make it happen. The great things Obama might do for America and the world could go on for decades after he’s out of office.

America, you know not what you have.

The man is being challenged unfairly, characterized with vulgarity and treated with the kind of deep disrespect to which no previous president was subjected. It’s like the day after electing the first black man to be president, thereby electrifying the world with hope and joy, Americans sobered up and decided the bad old days were better.

President Obama may fail but it will not be a Richard Nixon default, fraught with larceny and lies. President Obama, given a fair chance, will surely succeed, but his triumph will never come with a Bill Clinton caveat—“if only he’d got control of that zipper.”

Please. Give the man a fair, fighting chance. This incivility toward the leader who won over Americans and gave hope to billions of people around the world that their lives could be enhanced by his example just has to stop.

Believe me, when Americans drive by the White House and see a sign on the lawn that reads, “No shirt. No shoes. No service,” they’ll realize this new national rudeness has gone way, way too far.Editor’s note: This post originally appeared at Senior Living in October 2010.

(Huffington Post) Whatever you think about Charles Barkley, one thing's for sure, the guy will speak his mind. Just last week it was reported that Barkley chose to unleash to the airwaves on a Philadelphia radio station a declaration about what he deems as "successful" blacks' biggest problem -- "unintelligent" black people. Check it out:"Unfortunately, as I tell my white friends, we as black people, we're never going to be successful not because of you white people but because of other black people," Barkley said. "When you're black, you have to deal with so much crap in your life from other black people. It's a dirty, dark secret; I'm glad it's coming out." Note that this is from a guy who just a few days ago announced that he wants to run an NBA team.He goes on to say that ALL black people experience this problem when they are successful. ALL? Come on now. What is even more troubling about Barkley's comments is the "never" part. What does he mean? He also takes the time to explain that he makes such points to his white friends as if he's the great race spokesperson who is burdened with helping his so-called friends better understand those "other" blacks. Not blacks like me. I'm a good one, Bob. Barkley doesn't have a clue as to how unintelligent he sounds. I'm sure his white friends see him as a big joke.But are unintelligent blacks the real problem? Or is it failing schools, poverty, an increasing wealth gap, a glorified pop culture lifestyle, overall low black self-esteem, an American history rooted in subjugation, and a media that parades a certain depiction of black life as the "norm"? Not to whine, but a more exhaustive analysis is required.The irony in all this for me is that I first saw Barkley's comments pop up in my inbox on my phone while attending a hackathon the evening of October 26, which wrapped up the second annual Platform Summit hosted in Atlanta this year by my alma mater Morehouse College and Georgia Tech; MIT hosted the 2013 event. By background, Platform is a non-profit organization co-founded by tech entrepreneur Hank Williams, Shahara Ahmad-Llewellyn Family Foundation head Shahara Ahmad-Llewellyn and MIT Media Lab and One Laptop One Child founder Nicholas Negroponte, among others. Platform sees itself is a change-maker in the tech world. It's mission is to increase the interest, participation, and success of those underrepresented in the innovation economy -- with a focus on blacks, Latinos and women. The hackathon took place at Goodie Marketing, an Atlanta-based non-profit created to support the marketing strategies of non-profits that support underserved communities.The weekend was a hot ticket. Charles Barkley should have been there.The two and a half day summit attracted some of the biggest minority influencers in technology, innovation, politics, the arts, entrepreneurship to perhaps ever assemble in one place. They heard speakers like singer Janelle Monáe, CNN's Van Jones, REVOLT TV's CEO Keith Clinkscales, Rev. Jesse Jackson, former NAACP president and now Kapor Capital and the Kapor Center for Social Impact partner Ben Jealous and Credit Suisse Chief Marketing Officer Pamela Thomas-Graham, HBO SVP of multicultural marketing Lucinda Martinez, former NBC TV executive Paula Madison, among others. With attendance at over 500 this year up from 180 in 2013 and with sexy sponsors like Credit Suisse, Google for Entrepreneurs and HBO Go, Platform is primed to have significant impact on the diversity equation in innovation.Platform drew the dreamers, the big ideas people, those who have track records of knocking down doors for themselves and, most importantly, for others.At Platform, Barkley would have seen very successful black people and other minorities who are working hard to find solutions to the complex obstacles facing economic progress for not only blacks, but for Latinos and women as well. Barkley would have seen people of color and women committed to building alliances and businesses with each other to help change the world. He would have seen very intelligent and highly motivated Morehouse College and Spelman College students, who comprised a press corps my business partner and I assembled with the aid of Morehouse journalism professor Ron Thomas, engaged in dialogue with thought leaders about how to make fundamental changes in our society to improve not only their lives, but the lives of their fellow brothers and sisters.That the summit was held at Morehouse, with its vast legacy of being an engine of producing leaders committed to social justice, is a fact that should be underscored. Morehouse's president Dr. John Silvanus Wilson Jr. stresses that the college has been very productive in its STEM enrollment and graduation rates and is an answer to how the innovation economy can truly diversify. In fact, Dr. Wilson pointed out that Morehouse is considering requiring all students to know how to code before they graduate.Some summit speakers, like the Rev. Jackson, whose conversation with Hank Williams closed out the two-day and half day event, see the digital landscape as the new frontier for the civil rights struggle.Now back to Mr. Barkley's' comments. The fact that Barkley, who's an accomplished man, a media brand of the day whose commanding presence on screen and off makes him a person of great influence in certain circles, feels the need to make his comments to his white friends while ignoring the larger institutional issues that hold back huge segments of the population, is irresponsible at best. If you want to look at hate in America, it's everywhere. It's American culture. Bullying is at an all time high. There are sites dedicated to hate. TMZ, a mainstream media outlet, spouts out hate by the hour. Political ads are increasingly nasty. And look at the school shootings by low self-esteemed young white people who so much detest some of their peers that they are willing to kill them. There was just one in Washington state. Hurting people hurt other people. That's no longer a secret. Let's explore that, Charles. There's a lot of hurt in our society. And with a widening wealth gap that economists cite as poised to cripple the economy further, this problem might only get worse. It could be only a matter of time before the masses storm the castle.Perhaps Mr. Barkley could take some time to explore the issue of poverty and how that affects Americans and their behavior. And he could start with our native Alabama. According to Alabama Possible, an organization focused on reducing systemic poverty in the state, Alabama is the seventh poorest state in the union with 900,000 people including 300,000 children living below the poverty line. Organizations like Platform know that poverty is linked to poor education, a lack of resources and access to new possibilities. Today and looking ahead, that means access to education, capital, and the tech economy.There's, unfortunately, a perception in the country, the world, that there are no black engineers, there are no blacks in tech, there are no back startups. Platform is changing that. But its founders know that they have a tall challenge ahead of them. Much of this, I think, is attributable to a media and popular culture that celebrates a narrow view of what being black is, what a Latino looks like and what it is that women do. Not to mention high-profile talking heads, who made their mark and millions in sports, pontificating about the plight of black folks to people who couldn't care less about black progress or that of any other minority group.With his own media platform, Mr. Barkley has an opportunity to enlighten not only his white and unenlightened black brethren with a more extensive examination of the issues affecting blacks in America. But please do your homework first, Mr. Barkley. In fact, you should come to Platform next year. You could use some old school schooling and perhaps meet some new friends who could help you elevate your game when it comes to discussing the complex topic of race in America.But before coming to Platform, Barkley might want to reach out to Apple CEO and fellow Alabama native and Auburn University alum Tim Cook, who made his own media headlines this past week, when he acknowledged that he's gay. Mr. Cook, who has revealed a sense of sensitivity around issues of race, gender and sexual orientation and inclusion, might be able to aid his War Eagle buddy in such matters and how they impact the broader society. Last year, Business Insider ran an excerpt from a speech Mr. Cook gave upon receiving a lifetime achievement award from Auburn. Mr. Cook, who grew up in Robertsdale, Alabama, not far from my native Mobile, recalled an incident he witnessed as a child:"Not far from where I lived, I remember very vividly witnessing a cross burning at such a remarkable family. This image was permanently imprinted in my brain, and it would change my life forever," Cook said. "For me the cross burning was a symbol of ignorance, of hatred, and a fear of anyone different than the majority. I could never understand it, and I knew then that America's an Alabama's history would always be scarred by the hatred that it represented."I think Mr. Cook could teach his homeboy a little history lesson.It was just in August that Mr. Cook acknowledged in Forbes that Apple could do more about diversity at the company when he said that he is "not satisfied" with the numbers and will focus on "advancing diversity." Nice. I think it would be cool to see both Mr. Cook and Mr. Barkley at Platform next year. I can't wait.Follow George Alexander on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GeorgeAlexander

Students Ask Not To Be Called African-American; Teacher Allegedly Calls Them N-WordThe Huffington Post | By Leigh Weingus

Last week, an Illinois substitute teacher reportedly called a group of four middle school girls the N-word after they asked not to be called African-American.The incident occurred at Jay Stream Middle School in the town of Carol Stream during an eighth-grade social studies class. When interviewed by local news outlet WMAQ, student Mea Thompson, who is of Jamaican descent, said they asked the teacher not to call them African-American since none of them are from Africa."She said, ‘It’s the politically correct term.' Then she said, 'Well, back then you guys would be considered the N-word,'" Thompson said, recalling the exchange. "We were so shocked and we were like, ‘What? Excuse me? That's not correct to call us that.' She was like, ‘Well, back then that’s what African-Americans were called.’”The teacher allegedly used the N-word several times over the 80-minute class period.“After the shock and hurt, I’m angry,” Thompson's mother, Shayna, said. “It’s a new world, and the people of the past that still hang onto hatred and bigotry don’t belong in this world anymore.”When reached for comment, the District Superintendent William Shields said the events in the classroom are still unclear, but said the teacher would not be returning to the school.“We’re finding that an awful lot of the accounts on the specific words and actions are extremely inconsistent, so it's very hard to judge this situation,” Shields told The Huffington Post. “We’re proud of the kids. We want them to be able to come to administrators and teachers to speak about issues of not feeling safe or secure. That being said ... we’re not having the substitute back because the substitute attempted to teach a lesson outside the curriculum, which we didn’t authorize.”WMAQ readers took to the comments section to weigh in on the story."What justifies the use of the N-word in a classroom, regardless what takes place on TV or on the radio?" wrote one."What does the history of the N-word have to do with a child requesting to not be categorized in a certain way?" asked another. "She is Jamaican, not African-American."

Milwaukee family seeks charges in police shooting

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The family of a black man shot 14 times by a white police officer in a Milwaukee park marks the spot where he died with red spray paint before starting a rally and marching through city streets."Shame on you. People of color are people, too," protesters chant while carrying signs declaring, "Black Lives Matter."The rallies are one way Dontre Hamilton's family has kept his name in the news in the six months since his death. Smaller and more orderly than those in Ferguson, Missouri, the protests have not drawn national attention but have produced results. The man who shot Hamilton was fired, the first Milwaukee officer in decades to face such discipline in a fatal on-duty shooting.Now the family wants more: criminal charges for the officer, and improvements in the way mentally ill people — Hamilton had schizophrenia — are treated by police and social service programs."They messed with the wrong family. ... I'm not going to back down," said Nate Hamilton, Dontre Hamilton's brother.Hamilton's family participated in a vigil days after his April 30 death but then said little publicly as they waited out an investigation into the shooting. They wanted details about what happened and the officer disciplined. They were frustrated months later, when protests erupted in Ferguson following the shooting of a black 18-year-old, Michael Brown, by a white officer."We tried to be accepting and respectful of the way the system works. ... Until it got to the point where the Mike Brown thing happened," Nate Hamilton said. "Now, you know who this police officer is, you're seeing them get information, and in Milwaukee, we're not getting no information."The family joined a Milwaukee demonstration organized to support those in Ferguson, and attention quickly focused on the similarities between the Brown and Hamilton cases. Nate Hamilton acknowledged some missteps, such as when protesters blocked a freeway exit ramp or became disruptive at a Police and Fire Commission meeting.But overall, the protests have been peaceful, which Nate Hamilton said is crucial to building support for the family's goals. While the protests have highlighted that Manney is white and Hamilton was black, Hamilton's family is focusing on broader issues, including mental health.Police Chief Edward Flynn promised more training for officers dealing with people with mental illness and, on Oct. 15, fired Officer Christopher Manney for instigating the fight that led to the shooting. Manney has appealed.Hamilton's family wants to see Manney charged. The district attorney's office has delayed a decision until it gets a recommendation from a national use-of-force expert.The Hamiltons have been studying the law and police policy to better advocate for changes. They're also finding other ways to channel their grief.Hamilton's mother is organizing a support group for women whose sons died in police shootings or custody and hopes to address shortcomings in mental health and social service programs. Maria Hamilton had struggled to get her 31-year-old son care after insurance problems caused him to miss his medication last winter. Until then, he had been doing well, living in group housing and working. Without the drugs, he became paranoid and began moving from place to place, eventually ending up in the park, where he was sleeping when Manney responded to a call from a nearby business about him."Had he had that medication, he might still be sitting here with us," Maria Hamilton said.Nate Hamilton and another brother, musician Dameion Perkins, wrote a song expressing their grief, anger and frustration. The song describes their "worst fear" — a brother "shot 14 times, didn't do no wrong. Laying in the park, really I don't see no harm. The investigation is still going on."Proceeds from the song sold on iTunes will benefit a foundation established in Hamilton's memory."We can't bring Dontre back," Perkins said, "but what we can do is help somebody along the way."Perkins and Nate Hamilton remain bothered by police descriptions of their brother as homeless and violent. They describe Hamilton as fearful, but not dangerous. He checked into a hotel two days before the shooting and had almost $150 in cash on him when he died."He wasn't dressed bummy, he was still dressed well, he had some Air Jordans on his feet ... so we just felt like that was uncalled for," said Nate Hamilton, who followed his brother into the roofing business before starting a remodeling company.Maria Hamilton moved her sons from Gary, Indiana, to Milwaukee in 1995 to escape growing gang violence. She raised them to work hard, have faith and look out for one another. But Perkins said the shooting showed them that they had to be leaders."It's taught us," he said, "to use our minds on a broader scale."

The Evidence of a Struggle in Michael Brown's DeathBy Dashiell Bennett

A new report on Michael Brown's official autopsy results appears to support Officer Darren Wilson's version of the events on August 9, according to two medical experts.The new analysis of the autopsy results was released on Wednesday by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which asked two independent experts who were not involved in the investigation—one of them, the St. Louis County Medical examiner—to review the available evidence.Their report says that Brown was shot in the hand at very close range and his blood and other tissue were found both inside and outside the car. Wilson has reportedly told investigators that he fought with Brown inside his police SUV and that Brown attempted to take his gun.St. Louis medical examiner Dr. Michael Graham told the paper that the autopsy "does support that there was a significant altercation at the car.” The other expert, forensic pathologist Judy Melinek, went even further, saying that the wound on Brown's hand "supports the fact that this guy is reaching for the gun" and adding that another shot, which went through Brown's forearm, means Brown could not have facing Wilson with his hands up when he was shot, an apparent contradiction of the now iconic "hands up, don't shoot" posture adopted by protesters in Ferguson.The official county autopsy and the private autopsies conducted on behalf of the families do not disagree on the number or wounds or their location. For example, both reports say that a shot to the top of Brown's head was likely fatal, but witnesses do not agree on whether he charging toward Wilson or was already on his way to the ground when he was hit. (A second story published in the Post-Dispatch on Wednesday says Wilson claims Brown kept charging him.)This interpretation of the report seems to coincide with other reports about Wilson's statements to investigators and his testimony before the grand jury, which was recounted in The New York Times last Friday. The feeling among many observers of the case, including The Washington Post's Wesley Lowery, and The Root's Eric Guster, is that these recent leaks are meant to prime the public for an inevitable result: a grand jury investigation that ends with no charges being filed against Wilson.Police officers are generally given the right to respond with lethal force once they feel their life is in danger, and the Times added the federal officials think a civil rights charge against Wilson is also unlikely, given the high standards needed to file one. No matter the reason, the leaks are bound to raise tension in Ferguson once again, which continues to see protests more than 70 days since Brown's shooting.This article was originally published at theatlantic.com

Global investment bank Credit Suisse is launching a new initiative called the Entrepreneurs Circle to support African-American entrepreneurs in the U.S.The bank has selected 12 members to start the program, which will offer access to bank loans, members of the investment bank’s staff, and an ability to share tips and tactics for growing their business ventures among the membership.It’s one of a number of avenues that the bank is taking to reach out to the African-American business community.The Entrepreneurs Circle is part of Credit Suisse’s Private Banking and Wealth Management New Markets initiative, which is looking to advance financial opportunity among women, African-Americans and the LGBT community.“Data clearly shows that African-American business owners are under-represented among all business owners and are generally underserved by large, global financial institutions,” said Pamela Thomas-Graham Credit Suisse’s head of the new division.For Heather Hiles, the founder and chief executive of ed-tech startup Pathbrite, the program is an opportunity to get advice from a group of financial services professionals that have her interests in mind, as well as get access to to potential debt capital.“The truth of the matter is that every venture capital firm — and we also have a strategic investor — but investors are always looking through the lens of what’s beneficial to them,”says Hiles. “It’s not impartial information one gets from shareholder board members, so to have at my disposal some of the best and brightest in investment banking and other kinds of expertise, and that it’s impartial? That is important. If they make a debt level loan to us, their only interest is that we pay the debt back.”On another level, Hiles sees value in the overall outreach that Credit Suisse is making to the African-American community. “We’re further behind the starting line than majority folks,” Hiles says. “Over 90 percent of venture capitalists are white men. So we don’t necessarily live next door to our investors.”Furthermore, there’s not the same access to large pools of experienced capital through angel investment in the African-American community, Hiles says. “We don’t have a network as broad or as deep of African-American entrepreneurs who have been there and can see around the corner. It’s sad, but it’s just true.”Here’s a list of the entrepreneurs:Phil Bronner — Chief executive and co-founder of Quad Learning, which works with community colleges to develop honors curricula for students who want to complete their bachelor’s degrees at a top-tier college or university.Troy Carter — Founder, chairman and chief executive of Atom Factory, an entertainment and music management company based in Los Angeles. In addition to launching the career of Lady Gaga, Carter is a fairly prolific angel investor in his own right. He’s also a serial entrepreneur who founded The Backplane, which connects fans with their favorite celebrities and brands; launched POPWater, a soft drink brand he’s building out internationally, and created A \ IDEA a branding and product development agency.Jonathan Cropper — Founder of Futurlogic, a company that specializes in “educational” branding. Cropper previously served as the director of Project Development of Quincy Jones Entertainment / Time Warner, and later worked as the chief marketing officer for Sean “Diddy” Combs’ collection of companies.Sheldon Gilbert — Founder and chief executive of Proclivity Media, a cloud-based predictive analytics company.William Heard — Chief executive and chief information officer of Heard Capital, LLC, a global long/short hedge fund.Heather Hiles — Founder and chief executive of Pathbrite, a developer of education technology focused on collaborative learning.John Legend — Grammy award-winning singer, songwriter, musician, producer, philanthropist and entrepreneur. Legend heads the Show Me Campaign and sits on several boards, including Management Leadership for Tomorrow, Stand for Children, Teach for America, the Harlem Village Academies and PopTech, a unique innovation network dedicated to accelerating the positive impact of world-changing people, projects and ideas.Tonya Lewis Lee — Award-winning producer and Chief Creator of ToniK Productions, a film production company, and the e-health startup HealthYouNow.Karl Simmons and E. David Ellington — The chief executive and president (respectively) ofGridSpeak Corporation, a quantitative analytics provider for North American energy markets.Collin Wallace Founder of FanGo Software Systems, a mobile food-ordering platform for iPhone and Android operating systems, which was acquired by GrubHub in 2011.￼Hussein Warmack — President of Hantz Group Accounting, which has developed a financial tool utilized for high net worth individuals. Warmack previously launched Nu South Lemonade for United Beverage Group and had worked for Coca Cola.Hank Williams — Founder and CEO of Kloudco, a startup developing information management and communication services.

Netflix is reeling from its $1 price hike – and that’s incredible news for American consumersBy Tero Kuittinen

(BGR) Predicting the behavior of consumers is notoriously tough, but nowhere is it harder than in the rapidly evolving video streaming market. Pretty much nobody expected Netflix’s streaming service to bloom into the huge mainstream success it currently is. A few years ago, many viewed Netflix’s streaming operation as fatally hamstrung by the narrow and often low-quality movie selection. And this autumn, almost nobody predicted just how much a $1 summer price hike would dent the company’s momentum.RELATED: HBO will fulfill cord cutters’ dreams and launch a standalone streaming service next yearIn Thursday trading, Netflix’s share price plunged by nearly 20% as investors reeled from the slowdown of its U.S. subscriber base growth. The company added 980,000 new U.S. subscribers, far below the expected 1.33 million. The sheer scale of this shortfall indicates the company had no idea how to predict the impact of the price hike, which seemed trivially small at the time it was implemented.The timing could literally not be more delicious for HBO to announce its own standalone subscription service — and of course, that is exactly what happened, literally hours before Netflix whiffed on its subscriber growth numbers. The TV industry has been waiting for quite some time for HBO to start copycatting the Netflix model and that will finally happen in 2015. The vast catalogue of HBO shows will instantly make it a formidable competitor to Netflix.Perhaps the most fascinating feature of HBO breaking away from the cable TV box is the likelihood that this will lead to a substantial boost in the production of original content. Until now, HBO has limited its series and movie orders to suit a rather compact, meticulously curated selection of gems. But as a streaming video service competing head to head with the massive new original content slate of Netflix, HBO will have to ramp up production rapidly. Netflix has recently announced a giddy array of comedy shows, historical epics, animated series, super-hero miniseries, science fiction extravaganzas and off-beat dramedies.If HBO opts to match the vast content ambitions of Netflix, America’s TV audience could be facing a renaissance of creative, daring, ambitious television fare. This is particularly interesting right now, when broadcast TV seems to be badly stuck in the rut. Despite the audience losses of leading channels, the autumn TV season has been a astonishingly old-fashioned, as shows like “Forever”, “Selfie”, “Bad Judge”, “The Mysteries of Laura” and “NCIS: New Orleans” would all have seemed as formulaic in 1998 as they are in 2014. This presents a huge opening for both Netflix and HBO as they formulate their original programming strategies.Netflix is suddenly under the gun, forced to discover new ways of boosting growth. HBO may sense an opportunity in Netflix’s subscriber growth slowdown. With some luck, the resulting duel will lead to a new golden age of American television.

Stacey Dash: Blacks Are Uneducated, Worthless Under President Obama

Stacey Dash is stirring up controversy with remarks that blacks are “uneducated” and feel “worthless” due to Barack Obama’s policies.

Dash appeared on Tuesday’s episode of Hannity on Fox News, discussing Democrats and social welfare programs. When asked if electing Barack Obama had helped the minority community, Dash answered, “no, not at all.“It still keeps them stuck. They are getting money for free,” Dash said. They feel worthless. They are uneducated.”Stacey Dash added that this was actually the intention of Democrats.“I mean, as long as you are that way, they (Democrats) can keep you under their control,” Dash noted.Host Sean Hannity gave Dash a chance to clarify what appeared to be inflammatory remarks, but she only dug in more. Dash claimed that Democrats have a “plantation mentality” in thinking they can buy the minority vote in exchange for social and welfare services.The remarks earned an immediate backlash online for Stacey Dash, with some calling her an “Uncle Tom” and others using more colorful language.Dash, who has been working for Fox News as a guest commentator for about six months, is no stranger to controversy. She first made waves in October 2012, when she tweeted an tweeted an endorsement of GOP nominee Mitt Romney for president, earning a strong backlash online. Dash had been a strong Obama supporter in 2008, but said she had lost faith in him.Stacey Dash has also criticized “Hollywood hypocrites” and made waves by raising questions about the trip that Jay-Z and Beyonce took to communist Cuba.www.inquisitr.com

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Pounding rain and tornado watches didn't deter hundreds of protesters Monday outside Ferguson police headquarters, where they stayed for almost four hours to mark how long 18-year-old Michael Brown's body was left in a street after he was fatally shot by police.

Organizers of the four-day Ferguson October protests dubbed the day "Moral Monday" and committed acts of civil disobedience across the St. Louis region. In addition to the initial march on Ferguson police headquarters, protesters blocked the entrance to a major employer, held a loud rally inside St. Louis City Hall, disrupted business at a Ferguson shopping center and a Wal-Mart and tried to crash a private fundraiser for a St. Louis County executive candidate where Sen. Claire McCaskill was scheduled to appear.All told, nearly 50 people were arrested, including scholar and civil rights activist Cornel West.West was among 42 arrested for peace disturbance at the Ferguson police station. Some protesters used a bullhorn to read the names of people killed by police nationwide. Christian, Jewish and Muslim clergy members — some of whom were among the first arrested — led a prayer service before marching to the station two blocks away.Protests have been common since Brown, who was unarmed and black, was killed by a white Ferguson police officer on Aug. 9. Tensions escalated last week when a white police officer in St. Louis shot and killed another black 18-year-old, Vonderrit Myers Jr., who police say had shot at officers."My faith compels me to be here," Bishop Wayne Smith of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri said outside Ferguson police headquarters. "I want to show solidarity, and call attention to the structural racism of St. Louis."

Protesters were met by about 40 officers in riot gear. Several clergy members approached individual officers and asked them to "repent" for Brown's killing and other acts of violence. Some officers engaged the protesters, while others ignored the efforts."My heart feels that this has been going on too long," Ferguson officer Ray Nabzdyk told the clergy. "We all stand in fault because we didn't address this."Outside Emerson Electric headquarters in Ferguson, six people were arrested for failing to disperse after blocking a street, St. Louis County Police spokesman Brian Schellman said. Emerson is one of the region's largest employers.At St. Louis City Hall, about 100 protesters blew whistles that echoed off the marble walls. Protest leader Kennard Williams presented a list of four demands to Jeff Rainford, chief of staff for Mayor Francis Slay. Slay was not in the office Monday.The demands called for an end to participation in a program providing military equipment to police, body cameras for all officers, a civilian review board for police and mandatory independent investigations whenever police kill someone.

Rainford said St. Louis is not part of the militarization program; he promised the other demands will be taken seriously."We are already working on all of these things," he said.Williams said that wasn't good enough, and pledged further disruptions in days to come. One protester was arrested for property damage.Hundreds of people marched to Saint Louis University in the pre-dawn hours. A small group held a brief demonstration inside the upscale Plaza Frontenac shopping center in St. Louis County. Another group was turned away by police and security at a Ferguson Wal-Mart, but the store closed out of concern about the protest. No arrests were made in those protests.Ferguson October began Friday with protesters marching to the St. Louis County prosecutor's office and renewing calls for charges against Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Brown. A grand jury is reviewing the case, and the U.S. Justice Department is conducting a civil rights investigation.___Follow Alan Scher Zagier at http://twitter.com/azagier

A couple New York City police officers are under criminal investigation after being caught on surveillance video pistol-whipping a teenage marijuana suspect who appeared to be surrendering with his hands up.The footage, obtained by DNAinfo New York, shows Kahreem Tribble, 16, at first jogging away from the officers. But as Tribble slowed to a stop, one of the officers is seen punching him in the face. As the teenager stumbles back with his hands up a second officer appears to smash him in the face with his gun.

During the Aug. 29 incident, police found 17 bags of marijuana on Tribble and arrested him for the drugs and for disorderly conduct. Tribble, who suffered cracked teeth and bruises, later pleaded guilty to a violation.“What’s depicted on this video is troubling and warrants a thorough investigation,” Ken Thompson, the Brooklyn District Attorney, told DNAinfo. Thompson, in addition to the NYPD’s Internal Affair Bureau, has launched a criminal investigation into the case.“The matter is under internal review,” said Deputy Chief Kim Royster, an NYPD spokeswoman.The NYPD said that one of the officers involved has been suspended and the other was placed on modified duty and relieved of his gun and badge. The department said it would not identify the officers because they have not been charged with a crime, but DNAinfo has identified the pair as Tyrane Isacc and David Afandor. The website identifies Afandor as the officer seen hitting Tribble in the face with his gun.A third officer is seen in the video standing by, watching as the two other officers pummel the teen.“Clearly, Commissioner Bratton has seen the video and reacted very aggressively in the sense of saying there have to be consequences when anything is done the wrong way,” Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters on Tuesday. “I see these videos as another piece of information that we need to use to improve the relationship between police and community and in many cases to heal the relationship between police and community.”The recorded pistol-whipping is just one in a long string of recent incidents in New York City and across the country that has inflamed tension between the police and the communities they’ve been sworn to protect and serve.In July, an officer in Staten Island, New York, choked Eric Garnerto death minutes after accosting him on a street corner for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. His death was followed by other high-profile killings by police of unarmed black men in Ohio, Utah and Missouri.On Aug. 9, a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri shot and killed unarmed black teen Michael Brown after the officer stopped the teen while he was walking with a friend from a nearby convenience store. Several witnesses say Brown was fired on as he attempted to run away from the officer and that the fatal shots came as he was turning with his hands up in surrender. The killing sparked national outrage and protests and rioting locally.On Monday, an Indiana couple filed a lawsuit against police after officers with the Hammond Police Department pulled their guns, smashed a window of the couple’s car and used a Taser on the unarmed passenger in the car. The couple says they feared for their lives and refused officers orders to exit the vehicle.The incident, which began with a traffic stop for an unworn seat belt, was captured on cell phone video by a 14-year-old sitting in the back seat.

The most serious charge against a Detroit police officer who mistakenly shot and killed Aiyana Stanley-Jonesduring a raid was dropped by a judge on Friday, AP reports.But prosecutors were also given a stay to immediately appeal before closing arguments in the trial.Officer Joseph Weekley’s defense attorney, Steve Fishman, requested that the involuntary manslaughter charge be dismissed because the prosecutors had failed to prove that the officer intentionally created the danger and intended to cause injury."I don't see the evidence that (Weekley) willfully disregarded the results to others,” Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway said. "The entire trial has basically been about the carelessness of the defendant, based on his skills. If I am going to err, I'm going to err on the side of the defense.”Roland Lawrence, a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office, reportedly said Hathaway was "circumventing the role of the jury."Weekley still faces a misdemeanor charge of careless discharge of a firearm causing death. The 28-year-old officer, who has been on paid leave since the 2010 death of Aiyana Stanley-Jones, was on trial last year, but the jury could not reach a verdict.BET National News - Keep up to date with breaking news stories from around the nation, including headlines from the hip hop and entertainment world. Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.(Photo: Carlos Osorio/AP Photo)

White people are more likely to deal drugs, but black people are more likely to get arrested for itBy Christopher Ingraham -Washington Post

Here's a pretty astonishing chart on the skyrocketing number of arrests of black Americans for nonviolent drug crimes. Brookings' Jonathan Rothwell lays it out:Arrest data show a striking trend: arrests of blacks have fallen for violent and property crimes, but soared for drug related crimes. As of 2011, drug crimes comprised 14 percent of all arrests and a miscellaneous category that includes “drug paraphernalia” possession comprised an additional 31 percent of all arrests. Just 6 percent and 14 percent of arrests were for violent and property crimes, respectively.Even more surprising is what gets left out of the chart: Blacks are far more likely to be arrested for selling or possessing drugs than whites, even though whites use drugs at the same rate. And whites are actually morelikely to sell drugs:Whites were about 45 percent more likely than blacks to sell drugs in 1980, according to an analysis of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth by economist Robert Fairlie. This was consistent with a 1989 survey of youth in Boston. My own analysis of data from the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows that 6.6 percent of white adolescents and young adults (aged 12 to 25) sold drugs, compared to just 5.0 percent of blacks (a 32 percent difference).This partly reflects racial differences in the drug markets in black and white communities. In poor black neighborhoods, drugs tend to be sold outdoors, in the open. In white neighborhoods, by contrast, drug transactions typically happen indoors, often between friends and acquaintances. If you sell drugs outside, you're much more likely to get caught. Rothwell's numbers shoot some holes into some oft-repeated drug warrior talking points: that people don't get arrested for nonviolent drug crime as much as they used to (false), and that legalizing and decriminalizing certain drugs won't magically solve racial disparities in the criminal justice system (true, although the chart above suggests it could help).

Dashboard video shows shooting of unarmed driverBy JEFFREY COLLINS

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina state trooper's dashboard video shows an unarmed driver being shot just seconds after he was stopped for a seatbelt offense — and the trooper, who was fired last week, has now been charged with assault.As Levar Jones cried in pain waiting for an ambulance, he repeated one question: "Why did you shoot me?"Jones' painful groans and then-Trooper Sean Groubert's reply — "Well you dove head first back into your car" — were captured by the camera.Groubert's boss, state Public Safety Director Leroy Smith, called the video "disturbing" and said "Groubert reacted to a perceived threat where there was none" as he fired the officer Friday.The 31-year-old former trooper is charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, a felony that carries up to 20 years in prison. He was released after paying 10 percent of a $75,000 bond.The dashboard camera video was released by prosecutors Wednesday night after they showed it at Groubert's bond hearing.Jones was stopped Sept. 4 as he pulled into a convenience store on a busy Columbia road. With the camera recording, Groubert pulls up without his siren on as Jones is getting out of his vehicle to go into the store."Can I see your license please?" Groubert asks.As Jones turns and reaches back into his car, Groubert shouts, "Get outa the car, get outa the car." He begins firing before he has finished the second sentence. There is a third shot as Jones staggers away, backing up with his hands raised, and then a fourth.View gallery

In this Sept. 20014 photo released by the South Carolina State Police, State trooper Sean Groubert p …From the first shot to the fourth, the video clicks off three seconds.Jones' wallet can be seen flying out of his hands as he raises them.Groubert's lawyer, Barney Giese, said the shooting was justified because the trooper feared for his life and the safety of others. Police officers are rarely charged in South Carolina. In August, a prosecutor refused to file criminal charges against a York County deputy who shot a 70-year-old man after mistaking his cane for a shotgun during an after-dark traffic stop.Groubert is white and Jones is black. Neither state police nor the FBI keep detailed statistics on the races of people in officer-involved shootings.Much like the recent police shooting of a black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, the racial aspect of the South Carolina shooting bothers state Rep. Joe Neal, an African-American lawmaker who has spoken out against racism in law enforcement for years."You are doing exactly what the police officer asked you do to and you get shot for it?" said Neal, D-Hopkins. "That's insane."Neal said he doubts the trooper would have been charged without the video. South Carolina has nearly 300 police agencies, and many smaller forces don't have dashboard cameras."If it had been the trooper's story versus his story, I'm not sure anything happens," Neal said.Jones is recovering after being shot in the hip. He released a statement last week saying he hopes his shooting leads to changes in how police officers treat suspects."I thank God every day that I am here with a story to tell and hope my situation can make a change," Jones said.He and his lawyer have not spoken publicly since Groubert was charged Wednesday.Groubert first worked for the Highway Patrol from September 2005 to September 2009. After going to work for the Richland County Sheriff's Office, he returned to the state agency in July 2012.This isn't the first time Groubert fired his service weapon. In August 2012, Groubert and another trooper chased a man who drove away from a traffic stop and fired at the suspect after he shot first, according to the Highway Patrol. The suspect was convicted of attempted murder and is spending 20 years in prison.Groubert was awarded the agency's Medal of Valor Award for his actions in protecting the public.So far in 2014 in South Carolina, police have shot at suspects 35 times, killing 16 of them, according to the State Law Enforcement Division. The number of officer-involved shootings has been steadily increasing over the past few years, with 42 reported in 2013.___Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at http://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new study shows a large majority of African-American and Hispanic news consumers don't fully trust the media to portray their communities accurately, a statistic that could be troubling for the news industry as the minority population of the United States grows.

Three-fourths of African-American news consumers and two-thirds of Hispanics have doubts about what mainstream media report about their communities, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Media Insight Project. And while most say it's become easier to get news generally in the last five years, few feel the same way about news regarding their own community, the survey said.

African Americans and Latinos currently make up a third of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 2043, the number of minorities is expected to eclipse the number of non-Hispanic whites, with the total minority population reaching 57 percent by 2060.People of color who are "seeking out news about their communities, they can't find it. And what they see, they don't think is accurate," said Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute, which teamed with The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research on the project. The survey was funded by the American Press Institute and the McCormick Foundation.

When asked whether they thought news about their communities was accurate, 75 percent of blacks said only "moderately" or "slightly/not at all." When Hispanics were asked the same question, 66 percent replied "moderately" or "slightly/not at all."

Tia C. M. Tyree, a Howard University professor and the assistant chair of the university's department of Strategic, Legal and Management Communications, said the stereotyping of African-Americans and Hispanics in the media, and a distrust of systems in the United States that used to be rife with racism contribute to the distrust.

"Many will believe there is embedded racism in many of America's systems: the media system, the legal system, the educational system," she said. "Many will believe that minorities aren't treated fairly in those systems, and because of that, any products that come out of it will be problematic."

Tyree also pointed at the small number of African-Americans and Hispanics in the media, saying that affects the viewpoint of the product. "It matters who the owners are, it matters who the producers are, it matters who the editors are, because that's often the agenda or the slant of the media and the news coverage," she said.

Part of the reason for the differing levels of skepticism between Hispanics and blacks, the survey said, is that Hispanics have access to a sizable amount of Spanish-language media on television, including Univision, as well as media from other countries. There are no longer any African-American daily newspapers, and few cable channels aimed at African-Americans offer daily news programs.

African-American consumers felt they could find the largest amount of news about their communities on local media. Twenty-three percent named a local television station as providing the most news about their communities, 15 percent named the black press, and 9 percent named newspapers. Hispanics by far — 41 percent — view Hispanic-specific news sources as the most frequent providers of information about their communities, 10 percent named 24-hour news stations 7 percent named a local news station.

"There isn't an analogous, what you might call 'ethnic' press (for blacks) that has evolved as the Internet has evolved — it's been more of a disruptive medium — while the Hispanic media has sort of adapted and grown," Rosenstiel said.

More blacks get their news from television and on cellphones than non-Hispanic whites or Hispanics: 95 percent of blacks said they got their news from television versus 87 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 86 percent of Hispanics; and 75 percent of blacks said they got news on their cellphone versus 64 percent of Hispanics and 53 percent of non-Hispanic whites.

The news industry needs to figure out how to reach these consumers of color, Rosenstiel said. "They're affluent, they're attractive to advertisers, there's a market there," he said.

The Media Insight Project is an initiative of the American Press Institute and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

NORC, at the University of Chicago, conducted the survey Jan. 9 through Feb. 17, 2014. It involved landline and cellphone interviews in English or Spanish with 1,492 adults nationwide, including 358 Hispanic adults and 318 African American adults. Results from the full survey have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points; For Hispanics, the margin was 8.5 percentage points and for African Americans, 7.9 percentage points.

NEW YORK -- During first-year orientation at Columbia University in January 2009, Rosie attended a school event designed to help her meet other new students at an uptown bar called Pourhouse. She had a soda and a macaroni and cheese dish.Rosie, who asked to be identified only by her first name, said another student later found her in the men's restroom, where she had been raped. She went to her family's home on Long Island the next morning, and her mother discovered bruises and abrasions on her thighs. A hospital emergency room doctor determined she had been sexually assaulted. Based on Rosie's statement that she had blacked out without drinking a drop of alcohol, the doctor surmised she had been drugged.Classes started the following week. Rosie had transferred into Columbia's General Studies college after taking time off from another school.

"Columbia was supposed to be my brand new start and it wasn't," Rosie said in an interview.Rosie, now 24, remains a student at New York-based Columbia, 15 semesters later. She's a senior by credit. The post-traumatic stress, lack of academic accommodation and two forced medical leaves made it difficult for her to complete coursework -- grievances she said spurred her to add her name to a federal complaintaccusing Columbia of mishandling sexual assault cases and not caring for the mental health of students.The complaint was filed in April, with 23 people listing grievances that covered 100 pages. It now includes 27 complainants with 250 pages of accusations against the Ivy League school. The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights has not yet decided to investigate.Rosie said she pieced together the identity of her likely attacker after the orientation evening. A copy of her complaint, provided to The Huffington Post, alleges no one at the school told her how to report the student. She said she never heard of Columbia's Office for Gender-Based and Sexual Misconduct, which handles assault cases, until this summer, when she spoke with senior Zoe Ridolfi-Starr, the lead complainant in the Department of Education filing.Ridolfi-Starr encouraged Rosie to add her story to the complaint against Columbia."We filed a complaint because things are seriously wrong and we are unsafe here," Ridolfi-Starr told The Huffington Post.Columbia spokeswoman Victoria Benitez told HuffPost, "We believe every student and every member of the Columbia community should be safe and feel respected, and the University is committed to sustaining the effort needed to achieve this goal." She added that guarding student privacy prevented further disclosures. "These matters are extremely sensitive, and because we do not want to deter survivors from reporting them, as well as for considerations related to student privacy laws, the University does not comment on individual student's cases," her statement said.Rosie said that when she reported her assault to administrators in February 2009, she was made to feel they didn't believe her. As she described the attack to two deans during a meeting, one blurted out, "Huh, what? Sorry, I wasn't listening," she said.Rosie said the school made no accommodation to help her cope. When she emailed administrators in June 2010 about trouble she was having in class, she got a sudden reply placing her on medical leave without appeal, according to copies of the correspondence shown to HuffPost. She wasn't allowed to take another class until January 2011, and said she was later pushed into a second medical leave barring her from classes in summer 2013. She was warned of possible expulsion for her grades as recently as this year, her complaint says.Some professors tried to help, Rosie said, but others made things worse. One instructor in a writing class, she recalled, accused her of using her assault as a "ploy" to "add interest" to her assignments."This isn't just an administrative issue, it's an issue at all levels of the university," Rosie said. "We're doing something wrong and we need to fix it."Columbia's handling of sexual assault remains in the spotlight. Another woman who has filed a complaint against the school, Emma Sulkowicz, has been protesting by carrying a mattress around campus until her reported rapist is removed. Rosie was one of 50 assault survivors who spoke last week at a campus demonstrationsupporting Sulkowicz.The growing number of people joining the Education Department complaint has likely delayed the federal decision whether to investigate. In making the decision, the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights must consider each allegation, determining whether it has the legal authority to investigate and whether the university has addressed the issue.Ridolfi-Starr said the federal indecision leaves students in limbo."We can't be waiting a year for the federal government to be able to determine that our rights have been violated, and we are unsafe at this moment," Ridolfi-Starr said. "We don't have a year."Ridolfi-Starr said campus activism has drawn out more survivors, including some with complex cases. In one involving domestic violence, for example, the university allegedly disciplined a woman for fighting back in a hallway, while the male escaped sanctions and graduated, Ridolfi-Starr said."He dragged her by her hair into the hallway and was beating her there," Ridolfi-Starr said. "How did they find her responsible? I don't know how those people came to that assessment. I can't fathom it."Columbia unveiled a new sexual assault policy this summer, after activists said school administrators told them there would be no overhaul without their input.Columbia administrators noted the university has implemented new anti-sexual assault education initiatives, appointed a special adviser to the president on sexual assault prevention and response, and expanded its rape crisis center.Rosie said the campus still lacks support for survivors of all gender identities."Sexual assault is something that no college wants on their doorstep," Rosie said. She said "there isn't a unified effort between all of the departments at Columbia to address such a serious matter that is clearly happening frequently."This story has been updated to include comments from Columbia.Need help? In the U.S., visit the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline operated byRAINN. For more resources, visit the National Sexual Violence Resource Center's website.

Detroit cop faces 2nd trial in 7-year-old's deathBy Ed Davis

DETROIT (AP) — A member of an elite Detroit police unit is set to stand trial again for killing a 7-year-old girl during a 2010 raid on her house that was captured on video by a reality TV crew.Nobody alleges that Officer Joseph Weekley intended to kill Aiyana Stanley-Jones, who had been sleeping on a couch near the front door when officers burst through around midnight in search of a murder suspect. But prosecutors charged him with involuntary manslaughter because they believe he handled his submachine gun recklessly, causing the girl's death.Jury selection starts Monday in Wayne County court, 15 months after Weekley's first trial ended with jurors unable to agree on a verdict.Weekley was a member of Detroit's Special Response Team, which was sent to an east side neighborhood to capture a suspect in the killing of a teenager outside a convenience store.Police threw a stun grenade through a window, emitting smoke, bright light and vibrations to confuse anyone inside. Weekley was first through the door, with a shield in one hand and a gun in the other. He claims he accidentally pulled the trigger when Aiyana's grandmother, Mertilla Jones, grabbed his gun. She denies that she interfered in any way.The raid was recorded for a police reality TV show, "The First 48," but there was no footage from inside the house. The target, Chauncey Owens, eventually was arrested and convicted of killing a 17-year-old boy.During Weekley's first trial, a fellow officer, Shawn Stallard, testified that he didn't see anyone struggle with Weekley. He said Detroit police are trained to push away anyone who tries to grab an officer's gun or to move the weapon in a "J'' shape to keep control of it.Weekley told jurors: "I just feel devastated and depressed. I'll never be the same, no."On the third day of deliberations, loud voices could be heard coming from the jury room. Jurors later told the judge they couldn't reach a verdict.Spokeswoman Maria Miller said the prosecutor's office still believes it has a strong case, which is why it decided to put Weekley on trial again.Mark Diaz, union president of the Detroit Police Officers Association, said he was disappointed by the decision."I understand there is a certain part of the public that is crying foul on this. But knowing what we know, there was no malicious intent. ... He went in there to protect the citizens of Detroit from a man wanted for murder," Diaz said.

Follow Ed White at https://twitter.com/edwhiteap

Ex-New Orleans mayor reports to federal prison

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin reported to a federal prison in Texarkana, Texas, on Monday to begin serving a 10-year sentence.Nagin arrived at the facility shortly before noon. New Orleans television stations showed images of Nagin hugging family members in a parking lot before he entered the lockup. The Bureau of Prisons operates a low-security prison there with an adjacent minimum security camp. Bureau spokesman Chris Burke said Nagin reported to the minimum security camp.In February, Nagin was convicted on 20 counts including bribery, conspiracy and money laundering stemming from his two terms as mayor, including the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.A Democrat, Nagin had been elected as a reformer when he took office in 2002. But prosecutors said graft in his administration began before Katrina and flourished afterward. Bribes included money, free vacations and truckloads of free granite for his family business.Re-elected in 2006 despite growing dissatisfaction with the city's recovery, he left office in 2010A public defender in New Orleans is pursuing an appeal of Nagin's conviction.Assistant Federal Public Defender Jordan Mark Siverd recently was appointed to the case after Nagin's previous attorney, Robert Jenkins, said the former mayor was unable to pay him. U.S. District Judge Helen Ginger Berrigan had approved the appointment of a public defender. According to a questionnaire filed with the court, Nagin had just $23.65 in the bank and numerous debts.Nagin reported to prison the week after his former technology chief and deputy mayor, Greg Meffert, was sentenced to 2 ½ years, for his role in the corruption. Meffert had faced a possible eight years but prosecutors urged a lighter sentence and praised his cooperation in the case against Nagin and others.Another key figure who was convicted in the case, technology vendor Mark St. Pierre, last week won a reduction of his original sentence of 17 ½ years. Because he helped prosecutors after he was convicted, St. Pierre's sentence was cut to five years.

Video of St. Paul police tasing unarmed father raising concerns over racial profilingBY MICHAEL WALSH NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

A young African-American father was tased by police while trying to pick up his children from preschool — and recorded the whole ordeal with his cellphone.On Tuesday, Chris Lollie, of St. Paul, Minn., uploaded a video of his Jan. 31 arrest in a downtown skyway, which has outraged many viewers who feel he was racially profiled."The problem is I'm black," he told the cop, who laughed dismissively. "No it really is because I didn't do anything wrong. I'm not sitting there with a group of people. I'm sitting there by myself… not causing a problem with anyone."Before the exchange, a security guard called the cops when he allegedly refused to leave an area in the First National Bank Building, police said.The video shows Lollie politely but firmly tell an officer that he was within his rights to sit there. He also declined to identify himself, repeating that he did not break any laws or do anything wrong."That's a public area and if there's no sign that… say(s), 'This is a private area. You can't sit here,' no one can tell me I can't sit there," he said.

Another cop arrived and reached out for Lollie, who politely asked not to be touched."You're going to go to jail then," the second officer said. "Yeah you're going to go to jail… I'm not here to argue with you. Put your hands behind your back.""Don't choke me! I have asthma sir!" Lollie said. "My kids are right there!"The situation escalated quickly and one of the officers shot Lollie with a Taser, presumably in front of his children.Afterward, Lollie said, "I just got off work at 9 o'clock… I came up here to pick up my kids at 10 o'clock and I get this? You racist motherf---ers. All y'all. I didn't do anything wrong. I'm a working man and I take care of my kids."The St. Paul Police Department responded to the video on Thursday with a message on its Facebook page."As is often the case, the video does not show the totality of the circumstances," the statement reads.Police wrote in a report that Lollie was "actively resisting by attempting to pull his arm away" and tried to "shove past us as he was pulling away from us," according to Twin Cities News."This is racist. They stopped me because I'm black," he told onlookers as they took him to jail.He was charged with trespassing, disorderly conduct and obstruction of the legal process but all counts were dismissed on July 31, police said.

After the court dismissed his case, authorities returned his cellphone

Homeless Jackie Robinson West Player's Family Gets Rent Paid For A Year

CHICAGO (WLS) --One of the Jackie Robinson West Little League champions was scoring runs for the team without a place to live.

Jaheim Benton's family has been homeless since June. But on Friday, the owners of a Chicago funeral home heard about the family's plight and decided to pay their rent for an entire year.

Benton scored five runs in the Little League World Series, including the run that pushed the team past Las Vegas in the national championship game. Eyewitness News spoke with Jaheim after the team landed at Midway.

"We had played hard. We did our best out there. And we're ready for a parade," said Jaheim.

But while Jaheim had a knack for rounding the bases and getting to home, the 12-year-old had no place to call home. With Jaheim's parents both struggling to find full-time work, the family was forced to split up and stay at friends' houses.

It began when Jaheim's mom, Devona Benton, had her hours cut as a home care provider. Scrounging for work, she was one of the last parents to make it to Williamsport.

"I'm very anxious to get there to see my son and the rest of the boys. I've been following and supporting them since they've been playing. I ain't giving up, boys. I'm coming," said Devona Benton.

Jaheim's father, a part-time radiator technician, also made it to Williamsport. Despite their money problems, Jaheim stayed focused on baseball.

"They have united the city. They have united the country. And now, they are known all over the world," said Spencer Leak, Jr., Leak and Sons Funeral Home.

Spencer Leak, Jr., from Leak and Sons Funeral Home in Chatham, was moved by Jaheim's story. The Leak family made a generous gift on Friday: a year's worth of rent for the Little Leaguer's family.

"I would hope that this rent turns into a mortgage that turns into home ownership for them," said Leak Jr. "We want our little superstar to have a roof over his head because that's what he is. He's a superstar."

Jaheim's mom told Eyewitness News on the phone on Friday that she wants the focus to remain on JRW's success, and not their family's situation. She said she told her son not to worry about their situation and to just play ball, and clearly, he did just that.

Listen up, ladies! You may soon be able to buy nail polish that detects date-rape drugs.Students Tyler Confrey-Maloney, Stephen Gray, Ankesh Madan, and Tasso Von Windheim of North Carolina State University have developed Undercover Colors, a nail polish that changes color when it comes in contact with common date-rape drugs.Using the nail polish, a woman can check for the drug by stirring the drink with her finger. If the polish changes color, then the drink is spiked.“While date rape drugs are often used to facilitate sexual assault, very little science exists for their detection. Our goal is to invent technologies that empower women to protect themselves from this heinous and quietly pervasive crime,” the group stated on their Facebook page.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in five women are raped in their lifetime. More than one in three of those rapes occur when a women is 18 to 24 years old.With this rampant rape culture currently poisoning our society, products are being created left and right. While many are applauding the male creators of the nail polish, others are questioning whether or not these kinds of products are actually helping.“Women are already expected to work hard to prevent themselves from becoming the victims of sexual assault. They’re told to avoid wearing revealing clothing, travel in groups, make sure they don’t get too drunk, and always keep a close eye on their drink. Now, remembering to put on anti-rape nail polish and discretely slip a finger into each drink might be added to that ever-growing checklist — something that actually reinforces a pervasive rape culture in our society,” ThinkProgress said.Undercover Colors is still in development.

How utterly perverse. The Rev. Al Sharpton was given center stage yet again Wednesday, this time at an interfaith meeting to address police-community relations — and he used it to rewrite history.Mayor de Blasio blithely helped in the effort, introducing Sharpton as a man who sought peaceful solutions “since the days of Martin Luther King.”Oh, really? From the Tawana Brawley case to the Crown Heights riots to Ferguson, Mo., Sharpton’s usual role is to pour gasoline on the fire.Sharpton asserted that he doesn’t believe in a “rush to judgment” when cops are accused of police brutality. Yet his agitation, both here in the city and in Ferguson, even before the facts have become clear in either case, puts that to the lie.Perhaps most disgusting was Sharpton’s claim that he scheduled his march against police brutality for Saturday because it’s the 25th anniversary of the death of Yusuf Hawkins — the 16-year-old black youth beaten and shot to death by a white mob in Bensonhurst.With the Tawana Brawley fiasco still fresh, Sharpton led multiple marches back then through Bensonhurst, even though those responsible for the death were properly tried and convicted.What the reverend took pains not to note is that this week marks another anniversary: 23 years since the Crown Heights riots.There, too, Sharpton played a cynical role, fueling rage after the tragic vehicular death of 7-year-old Gavin Cato and helping to stir up three nights of rioting that left Jewish Australian Yankel Rosenbaum dead.Sharpton had no place at that meeting on Wednesday. De Blasio had no grounds to give him one.

Ferguson, Missouri (CNN) -- After another night of protests in Ferguson, Missouri, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has approved a second autopsy on the body of Michael Brown, the Justice Department said Sunday.The autopsy will be conducted by a federal medical examiner, Justice Department spokesman Brian Fallon said in a statement."Due to the extraordinary circumstances involved in this case and at the request of the Brown family, Attorney General Holder has instructed Justice Department officials to arrange for an additional autopsy," the statement said."This independent examination will take place as soon as possible. Even after it is complete, Justice Department officials still plan to take the state-performed autopsy into account in the course of their investigation."

The news out of Washington came after protests that resulted in seven arrests and left one person shot. The shooting occurred just hours after a curfew was imposed to bring calm to a city that's seen a week of protests and sporadic looting after the police killing of the unarmed 18-year-old Brown."I can tell you that I was disappointed in the actions of tonight," said State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson, who's in charge of security for the town.Police have no information on the shooter, Johnson said, adding that there was a person in the street with a handgun and a police car was shot at.Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon had a different takeaway, saying that despite the violence and arrests, he was happy overall with authorities' handling of the unrest. He also thanked community members who he said were helpful in getting the city "through what could have been a very difficult night.""Thousands of people marched, and not a single gunshot fired by a member of law enforcement," the governor said.A day after Nixon declared a state of emergency and implemented a midnight-to-5 a.m. curfew, dozens of protesters -- a noticeably younger group than what has been the norm in Ferguson -- gathered to express their disagreement by marching and raising their hands in the air. The surrender posture -- which some witnesses say Brown was showing when he was killed -- has become symbolic of the protests.Brown was shot to death August 9 by a white police officer as the teen walked down the street. Witnesses say they saw a scuffle between the officer and Brown at the police car before the young man was shot. Authorities have said Brown was trying to get the officer's gun.His death has sparked sometimes violent protests and sporadic looting in the past week in the city of 22,000 people near St. Louis.

Early Sunday, police fired smoke canisters on protesters in the first hour of the curfew. After the reports of a shooting victim, police fired tear gas to get to the wounded individual, according to Johnson.He said authorities clamped down on protesters in response to the shooting, as opposed to the curfew violations.Earlier, Johnson said law enforcement would not be heavy-handed in enforcing the curfew."We won't enforce it with trucks. We won't enforce it with tear gas," he said.Nixon said Sunday law enforcement was "trying to use the least amount of force to provide people the ability to speak while also protecting the property of the people of Ferguson."St. Louis Alderman Antonio French spoke with protesters to try to convince them to abide by the curfew -- which he says was a compromise reached between the government and community leaders.While many heeded French's advice, a small group of people could not be convinced to stay home."Some of the guys didn't want to be told to leave," French said. "That's their right."French said he does not believe the use of smoke was disproportionate -- although it "definitely burned," he said."I'm committed to making sure the forces of peace and justice prevail," Nixon said at a community meeting Saturday. "If we're going to achieve justice, we first must have and maintain peace."In his Sunday interview with CNN, Nixon said he'd recently spoken to Holder, who had 40 FBI agents working in Ferguson on Saturday to expedite interviews and accelerate the investigation."It's important we get this right," he said. "This is going to be something that, to get to justice, it has to be transparent justice and has to be thorough justice, and there are a lot of witnesses and a lot of folks concerned about what went down and what justice can be."But his meeting at a local church at times was tumultuous.People repeatedly interrupted the governor, shouting, "You need to charge the police with murder!" and "We want justice!"Some residents said law enforcement officers had instigated the violence with military-like tactics.Johnson praised local citizens who tried to stop the looting of several businesses early Saturday.But at least one resident was skeptical about whether the curfew would work."It's an intimidation thing, and you're basically suppressing people who still have questions that need answers," said Carissa McGraw, who has joined protests throughout the week. "You have people who, at this point, do not care what authorities say right now."Accounts of exactly what happened when Officer Darren Wilson confronted Brown vary widely. Police said Brown struggled with the officer and reached for his weapon. Several witnesses said Brown raised his hands and was not attacking the officer.Since then, Ferguson has become a tinder box, with regular street protests, an influx of heavily armed law enforcement officers and intense media coverage.Saturday, Brown family lawyer Anthony Gray said that Michael Baden would conduct a separate autopsy on the the teenager's body. Baden is a high-profile pathologist who testified in the O.J. Simpson, Phil Spector and Drew Peterson trials.

However, Gray's announcement was made before the Justice Department said it would conduct a second autopsy on Brown. It's not clear if the Baden autopsy will still be performed.Early Saturday morning, before sunrise, a fragile peace was shattered when looters again targeted neighborhood businesses while law enforcement in riot gear largely looked on without intervening.Some protesters tried to stop the looting, at times standing in front of one convenience store and preventing others from doing more damage. Police, criticized days earlier for being too aggressive with protesters, now drew the ire of merchants who told CNN they weren't doing enough."You still have a job to do now, and now you're not doing your job," Tanya Littleton said of police after thieves broke into her beauty supply shop and made off with bags of hair extensions worth hundreds of dollars.At noon Saturday -- the hour that police say Wilson shot Brown a week earlier -- protesters outside the police station silently raised their arms into the air.Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson joined loud-but-peaceful crowds that marched in the street carrying signs saying, "Mike Brown is our son" and "The whole world is watching Ferguson." They chanted, "Hands up, don't shoot" and "Hey hey, ho ho, killer cops have got to go."The looting began at the Ferguson Market and Liquor store, which has become part of the case. Minutes before Brown was shot, police say, a man fitting his description allegedly stole cigars and roughed up a store clerk as surveillance cameras recorded.Ferguson police released surveillance video of that robbery on Friday, but then emphasized that Wilson stopped Brown not because of the theft, but because Brown and a friend were "walking down the middle of the street blocking traffic."Release of the video Friday angered some, who say police are using it to distract from Brown's killing and make him look bad.As protesters took to the streets early Saturday, more than two dozen people blocked off the convenience store with cars. Police with riot gear, tactical rifles and armored vehicles were nearby, commanding them through loudspeakers to free it up.Instead, bottles flew, mayhem erupted, and looters ransacked the store, which the owner had boarded up. It was the first of at least three stores raided.5 things to know about Michael Brown's shootingComplete coverage of the Ferguson shootingCNN's Ralph Ellis and Jason Hanna reported and wrote from Atlanta, and Shimon Prokupecz and Steve Kastenbaum reported from Ferguson. CNN's Eliott C. McLaughlin, Evan Perez, Joe Sutton, Ben Brumfield, Jennifer Duck and Greg Botelho contributed to this report.

Barneys has agreed to pay $525,000 to settle allegations that the upscale retailer deliberately targeted minorities entering its Madison Ave. flagship store.State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s investigators heard from customers and former employees that a pattern of racial profiling began last year when the high-end store tried to crack down on a dramatic spike in shoplifting and credit card fraud.Complainants told Schneiderman’s civil rights division that the store’s security team — known as the “loss prevention unit” — made a habit of keeping watch over black and Hispanic shoppers in disproportionate numbers.“This agreement will correct a number of wrongs,” said Schneiderman, “both by fixing past policies and by monitoring the actions of Barneys and its employees to make sure that past mistakes are not repeated.”In a 27-page settlement document signed by both parties Friday, Schneiderman released a series of findings from a nine-month review based on interviews with nearly a dozen complainants in the so-called shop-and-frisk case, including shoppers and former employees.They alleged that black and Hispanic customers were unfairly targeted when they entered the pricey store at 660 Madison Ave.The store’s own data showed that from October 2012 through October 2013, black and Hispanic shoppers were detained “at rates far greater than their percentage of the store’s customer base.”The review began this past October in response to a series of Daily News articles exposing numerous complaints about racial profiling at Barneys and Macy’s.Schneiderman’s review of Macy’s continues, but Barneys executives last week agreed to the settlement.As part of the deal, Barneys agreed to pay the $525,000 in fines and legal expenses, to hire an “anti-profiling consultant” for two years, to update its detention policy and to improve training of security and sales personnel.

The problems apparently started in March 2013 when Barneys hired a new security executive, the review found. In the ensuing months, door guards “exclusively identified minority customers as warranting surveillance,” complainants told the attorney general.In-store detectives regularly followed minority customers even after sales associates identified them as frequent patrons of the store, complainants alleged.Former Barneys employees told Schneiderman the store detectives were regularly pressured to “be more proactive in making stops and getting more ‘cases,’ ” the settlement states.In April 2013, shortly after the crackdown began, Trayon Christian, a 19-year-old student, said he was followed by NYPD plainclothes cops outside the store and accused of fraud after he bought a $349 Ferragamo belt.Kayla Phillips, a 21-year-old nursing student, was surrounded in February 2013 by four plainclothes cops who accused her of credit card fraud after she bought a $2,500 orange suede Celine bag.In both cases, no charges were filed, and both customers filed lawsuits against the store and the NYPD. The suits are pending.Barneys CEO Mark Lee said in a statement that the company was “pleased” with the settlement.“During the entirety of our 90-year history, Barneys New York has prided itself on providing an unparalleled customer experience to every person that comes into contact with our brand,” he added. “We (have) absolutely no tolerance for discrimination of any kind.”

The black teenager killed Saturday by a police officer in a St. Louis suburb was unarmed, the city’s police chief said Sunday, adding that the youth was shot after a physical altercation with the officer.A St. Louis County chapter of the NAACP called for the FBI to look into the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, a predominantly black suburb a few miles north of downtown St. Louis. Police Chief Jon Belmar of St. Louis County said at a news conference Sunday that there was a chance the local FBI office would be involved in the investigation, a move he said would not be unusual.Belmar said that the officer, who has been placed on paid administrative leave, had been a policeman for six years, and that Belmar was not aware of any other problems involving the officer.Brown's grandmother Desiree Harris said she had seen Brown running in her neighborhood Saturday afternoon when she passed him in her car. Minutes later, after she returned home, she heard a commotion and went outside to check on it. Less than two blocks away, she found Brown's body."He was running this way," she said. "When I got up there, my grandson was lying on the pavement. I asked the police what happened. They didn't tell me nothing."The shooting sent hundreds of angry residents out of their apartments, igniting protests and a confrontation that lasted several hours.On Saturday night dozens of police cars remained parked near the shooting scene as mourners left votive candles, rose petals, a large stuffed animal and other remembrances at a makeshift memorial in the middle of the street.At the height of the post-shooting tensions, police at the scene called for about 60 other police units to respond to the area in Ferguson, a city of about 21,000 residents.The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that several distraught relatives were outside talking with neighbors, including Brown's mother Lesley McSpadden and stepfather Louis Head.Head held a sign that read, "Ferguson police just executed my unarmed son!!!"St. Louis County police said a large crowd confronted officers following the shooting, yelling things like "kill the police."John Gaskin, a member of the St. Louis County NAACP, said the FBI should get involved "to protect the integrity of the investigation."He alluded to the 2012 shooting of a 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by a Florida neighborhood watch organizer who was subsequently acquitted of murder charges, as well as the death of a New York man from a police chokehold after he was confronted for selling individual cigarettes on the street."With the recent events of a young man killed by the police in New York City and with Trayvon Martin and with all the other African-American young men that have been killed by police officers ... this is a dire concern to the NAACP, especially our local organization," Gaskin said.Gaskin said officials in the organization spoke with Belmar, who told them the teenager had been shot twice.Harris said her grandson had recently graduated from high school and was looking forward to the future, including possibly attending college."My grandson never even got into a fight," she said. "He was just looking forward to getting on with his life. He was on his way."Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson told the Post-Dispatch,"We are hoping for calm and for people to give us a chance to conduct a thorough investigation."Gaskin said the angry crowd that gathered after the shooting was reacting to a "trauma.""Anytime you have this type of event that's taken place, emotions are going to run high," he said. "But for 600 people to gather around an area to see where a man is lying in the street, that means something happened that should have not happened."Al Jazeera and The Associated Press

hen I want to emphasize a point on criminal justice reform, I lead with the data. There are huge racial gaps in arrests, convictions, and sentences. I’m shocked by the statistics and assume that’s also true of readers.

But according to a new study from Stanford University psychologists Rebecca C. Hetey and Jennifer L. Eberhardt, the stats-first approach to issues of race and incarceration isn’t effective—in fact, it’s potentially counterproductive.

Hetey and Eberhardt conducted two experiments, one in San Francisco and one in New York City. In the former, a white female researcher recruited 62 white voters from a train station to watch a video that flashed 80 mug shots of black and white male inmates.Here’s where it gets interesting.Unbeknownst to the participants, Hetey and Eberhardt had “manipulated the ratio of black to white inmates, to portray racial disparities in the prison population as more or less extreme.” Some participants saw a video in which 25 percent of the photos were of black inmates, approximating the actual distribution of inmates in California prisons, while others saw a video in which 45 percent of photos were black inmates.After viewing the mug shots, participants were informed about California’s “three-strikes” law—which mandates harsh sentences on habitual offenders with three or more convictions—and asked to rate it on a scale of 1 (“not punitive enough”) to 7 (“too punitive”). Then participants were shown a petition to amend the law to make it less harsh, which they could sign if they wanted.The results were staggering. More than half of the participants who viewed the “less-black” photographs agreed to sign the petition. But of those who viewed the “more-black” photographs, less than 28 percent agreed to sign. And punitiveness had nothing to do with it. The outcome was as true for participants who said the law was too harsh as it was for those who said it wasn’t harsh enough.In which case, Hetey and Eberhardt hypothesized, there must be another explanation. Hence the New York City experiment, which tested the role of fear in driving support for harsh law enforcement policies. There, they found similar results using a variation on the San Francisco test.Instead of photos, researchers gave demographic statistics on New York state’s inmates to a sampling of 164 white adult New York City residents. As with the previous experiment, one group received a “more-black” presentation—where the prison population was 60.3 percent black and 11.8 percent white, approximating the racial composition of inmates in New York City jails—while the other received a “less-black” variation, where the prison population was 40.3 percent black and 31.8 percent white (approximating that of the U.S. prison system writ large).Next, participants read that a federal judge had ruled NYC’s “stop-and-frisk” policy unconstitutional, and they were asked to answer several questions: “Given the ruling, how worried are you that crime will get out of control without the stop-and-frisk program?”; “How comforted were you knowing that people were being stopped as part of the stop-and-frisk program?”; “To maintain safety, how justified is it to use stop-and-frisk tactics?”; and “How necessary is it to have the stop-and-frisk program in place to keep crime low?”After questioning, researchers gave participants a sample petition calling for an end to stop and frisk and asked them the following question: “If you had been approached by someone and asked to sign a petition like the one you just read, would you have signed it?” They had a choice of “yes” or “no.”Again, participants in the “more-black” group were significantly less likely to endorse the petition (12 percent) than those in the “less-black” group (33 percent) even though most saw stop and frisk as a punitive measure.The researchers also found that “crime concern” affected the willingness to sign the petition, as they wrote in their paper: “The more participants worried about crime, the less likely they were to say they would sign a petition to end the stop-and-frisk policy.”

Taken together, the conclusion was that “exposing people to extreme racial disparities in the prison population” led to a greater fear of crime and—at best—an unwillingness to support reform. For as much as you might be outraged by the vast racial disparities in marijuana arrests, for example, the general public might see the image of a young black man and hunker down in its support for marijuana prohibition.It’s disheartening. But, if I can indulge my cynicism for a moment, it’s also not too surprising. From previous research, we know that—among white Americans—there’s a strong cognitive connection between “blackness” and criminality. “The mere presence of a black man,” note Eberhardt and other researchers in a 2004 paper, “can trigger thoughts that he is violent and criminal.”

Indeed, they continue, simply thinking about black Americans can lead people to see ambiguous actions as aggressive and to see harmless objects as weapons.When Michael Dunn saw 17-year-old Jordan Davis and his friends, he perceived a threat, imagined a gun, and opened fire, killing Davis. “I was the one who was victimized,” said Dunn in a phone call to his fiancée before his trial. It’s ludicrous, but it’s not dishonest. Like many other Americans, Dunn sees black people—and black men in particular—as a criminal threat.What’s striking is this goes both ways. “In a crime-obsessed culture,” says the study, “simply thinking of crime can lead perceivers to conjure up images of Black Americans that ‘ready’ these perceivers to register and selectively attend to Black people who may be present in the actual physical environment.” In other words, the connection between blacks and crime is so tight that just thinking about crime—irrespective of the environment—triggers thoughts of black people in the same way that thinking of black people triggers thoughts of crime. And if you want a more disturbing thought, consider this: In one of the 2004 experiments, researchers found that exposing police officers to crime-related words followed by photos of black inmates “increases the likelihood that they will misremember a black face as more stereotypically black than it actually was.”On top of this, there’s the stubborn persistence of false or faulty ideas. “Misperceptions, like zombies, are difficult to kill,” writes political scientist Brendan Nyhan, citing the health care reform “death panel” myth, which persists five years after Sarah Palin pushed it into the mainstream. In fact, they’re so durable that giving counterinformation can strengthen the original misperception. Confrontvaccine-skeptics with evidence that vaccines don’t cause autism, and they may respond with greater skepticism.The dynamic between race, crime, and criminal justice reform is similar. Tell people that blacks are overpoliced and over-represented in prison, and it triggers thoughts of crime, which leads to fear, which causes a backfire effect as people follow their fear and embrace the status quo of unfair, overly punitive punishments.The immediate takeaway is that advocates might want to try different language (or a different approach) in their campaign to reform the criminal justice system. Racial injustice might be the main problem, but that doesn’t mean it’s the problem the broader public wants to solve.

To go a little deeper, however, I think this study further underscores the extent to which “blackness” retains its racial stigma, even as we move far away from the time of explicit anti-black attitudes. The dramatic progress of the past 50 years hasn’t dismantled America’s racial hierarchy or reshaped its form. The mythical “war on whites” notwithstanding, black Americans remain a disfavored class, subject to negative stereotypes, residential segregation, and rampant police violence.Not that there aren’t bright spots. Large communities of black Americans succeed and thrive in ways that weren’t possible a few decades ago. But ask yourself, during downturns and recessions, why are blacks the worst off? Why do they fall furthest? Is it some unique pathology? Or is the racial caste system—and our subconscious racial attitudes—more durable than we want to believe?

Naked Brooklyn woman dragged from apartment, left topless in hallway for minutes by NYPD officers who say she beat 12-year-old daughter

A Brooklyn grandmother who had just taken a shower was dragged from her apartment by about 12 cops who then stood by for more than two minutes while she was naked in the hallway, according to video that emerged Friday.Denise Stewart was in her Brownsville apartment on July 13 when police — responding to a domestic disturbance call at the building — pounded on her door at 11:45 p.m. and demanded entry.Stewart, 48, cracked the door wearing only a towel wrapped around her body and underpants — and was yanked into the hallway by cops over the screams of her family and neighbors.The video shows a chaotic scene as a dozen or so male officers burst into Stewart’s apartment, while several others struggle to subdue and cuff the nearly naked woman in the hallway outside.Stewart’s towel got lost in the scuffle, leaving the grandmother dressed only in underpants.“Oxygen, get my oxygen,” the mother of four can be heard saying to the cops, as they propped her bare body against the wall.A cop shouts, “OK, OK,” and darts out of the screen.Neighbors videotaping from the stairwell started shouting as Stewart, who has severe asthma, fainted and fell to the floor.“Yo, her mother got asthma ...y’all wicked, y’all f------ wicked,” shouted one woman.“Her asthma! Her asthma! Her asthma,” screamed another woman.For approximately two minutes and 20 seconds, Stewart was bare-breasted in the hallway as additional police officers tramped up the stairs and through the hallway, glancing at her as they passed by.When cops hauled Stewart’s two sons and two daughters out of the apartment and cuffed them, a female cop finally draped a white towel over Stewart’s exposed torso.Reached at her home Friday, Stewart told the Daily News she was traumatized.“It’s disgusting and embarrassing. I’ve been married 16 years. It took my husband 10 years to see my nakedness,” she said.“I didn’t do nothing wrong,” she said, crying as she recounted the ordeal.The NYPD said they’d gotten a 911 call to the Kings Highway address but didn’t have an apartment number.They heard shouts coming from Stewart’s apartment. When they knocked, she told them they had the wrong place and tried to shut the door, police said.Stewart’s 12-year-old daughter had “visible injuries” to her face, cops said. She told officers her mother and older sister beat her with a belt, police said.Family members tried to prevent them from arresting Stewart, who bit an officer’s finger during the struggle, police said.Stewart's lawyer, Amy Rameau, said she was told by a Legal Aid attorney also assigned to the case that the 911 call came from a different apartment on an upper floor — and cops went to Stewart’s door by mistake.Cops removed the 12-year-old from the apartment and say she refused to get into the police car and kicked the door. A police spokesman said the child kicked out one of the police van’s windows, with the broken glass cutting the chin of one of the cops. The cops were treated at local hospitals and released.Denise Stewart was charged with assaulting a police officer, and — along with her oldest daughter, Diamond Stewart, 20, — resisting arrest, acting in a manner injurious to a child and criminal possession of a weapon.Stewart’s son Kirkland Stewart, 24, was charged with resisting arrest. The 12-year-old was charged with assaulting a police officer, criminal mischief and criminal possession of a weapon.Diamond Stewart’s 4-year-old son was also pepper sprayed, the family said.“They manhandled (Stewart) and behaved in a deplorable manner,” Rameau said. “She feels completely mortified. This is about human dignity.”The city’s Administration for Children’s Services was called to investigate but didn’t find any evidence of neglect, said Rameau.“There were no injuries to the child as alleged in the complaint,” the lawyer said.A police spokesman said the incident is under investigation by Internal Affairs.jmarzulli@nydailynews.comnydailynews.com

(CNN) -- Philadelphia police conducted an around-the-clock manhunt over the weekend for two suspects in a carjacking that left three children dead and their mother in critical condition.Cops say two men -- one black, one Hispanic -- carjacked a real estate agent at gunpoint Friday morning and drove around the city at high speeds while holding the woman, whose name has not been released, in the backseat, Lt. John Stanford said.The stolen SUV struck a family working at a street-corner fruit stand in north Philadelphia, killing 10-year-old Thomas Reed. Seven-year-old Terrence Moore and Keiearra Williams, 15, died at a hospital. They were the children of 34-year-old Keisha Williams, who is still in critical condition, according to Giselle Zayon of Temple University Hospital.The SUV wrecked in a wooded area and the two men ran away.The family worked at the fruit stand to raise money for their church, according to police."They were sweet," Ursula Jackson told CNN affiliate KYW. "They were beautiful, they were beautiful little kids."The father of the 7-year-old boy urged the suspects to surrender to authorities."Taking innocent peoples' lives. That was my son," he told KYW. "You took him away from me. Turn yourself in."A reward of $110,000 has been offered for information leading to their arrest.Stanford said over the weekend the homicide unit was "following up on a number of tips and leads but (it had) nothing concrete at this time."3-year-old critically wounded in Chicago shooting

Chicago teen charged in murder of 11-year-old girl at pajama party

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A Chicago teen was arrested and charged with the murder of an 11-year-old girl who was hit by a stray bullet at a sleepover last Friday, the state attorney's office said on Thursday.Tevin Lee, 18, has been charged with murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm and will appear in bond court on Thursday or Friday, a spokesman for the state attorney said.The death of Shamiya Adams has renewed cries against gun violence in Chicago - which has seen a rash of summer shootings, although the city's murder rate has been roughly unchanged in recent years and is well down from the 1990s.Mayor Rahm Emanuel has visited Adams' mother twice since her daughter died and pledged to continue pushing his anti-crime measures such as expanded education and jobs programs for children as well as a drive to get illegal guns off the streets.On Wednesday, the board of commissioners for Cook County, which includes Chicago, resolved to ask voters whether they would support tougher statewide weapons controls.The board passed a resolution placing a non-binding referendum on the Nov. 4 general election ballot in which voters can back a bill before the state Senate, proposing universal background checks for firearms sales.(Reporting by Fiona Ortiz; editing by Gunna Dickson)

(Global Grind) Here it is folks! Gentrification, classism, and elitism all in one.New York City’s economic inequality problem is nothing new, but the physical segregation just approved by city officials proves just how far gone the issue actually is.Extell Development Company, the firm behind the building of a new shiny high-rise at 40 Riverside Blvd. on the West Side of Manhattan, is creating two separate entrances — one for the wealthy and another for the low-income tenants as part of the city’s affordable housing programs. This “poor-door” entrance will be situated on the back alley end of the building, while wealthier tenants will receive grade A treatment through the newly built front doors.Fifty-five of the 219 units in the new luxury building will be marked for low-income renters, which of course the developers will benefit from having in their building. Since Extell will provide a certain amount of affordable units, they will receive some hefty tax breaks, not only saving them money, but also potentially making them as much as $100 million in added floorspace they can build upon.Talk about making a dime off the backs of the working class.And if that doesn’t make your blood boil enough, here’s what another fellow poor-door developer David Von Spreckelsen had to say on the matter last year:“No one ever said that the goal was full integration of these populations,” said David Von Spreckelsen, senior vice president at Toll Brothers. “So now you have politicians talking about that, saying how horrible those back doors are. I think it’s unfair to expect very high-income homeowners who paid a fortune to live in their building to have to be in the same boat as low-income renters, who are very fortunate to live in a new building in a great neighborhood.”This act of economic segregation is everything from abominable to loathsome and back. The fact that these developers and the city see nothing wrong with it is the even more troubling part.

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City police officer involved in the arrest of a man who died in custody after being placed in an apparent chokehold has been stripped of his gun and badge and placed on desk duty, police said Saturday.

Officer Daniel Pantaleo, an eight-year NYPD veteran, and an officer who has been with the force for four years were both taken off the street after the death Thursday of 43-year-old Eric Garner on Staten Island, police said.The department would not identify the second officer but said he would retain his gun and badge while on desk duty. The reassignment is effective immediately and will remain in effect while Garner's death is being investigated, police said.The president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the city's largest police union, called Pantaleo's reassignment a "completely unwarranted, knee-jerk reaction."The decision, Patrick Lynch said in a statement, "effectively pre-judges" the case and denies Pantaleo the "very benefit of a doubt that has long been part of the social contract that allows police officers to face the risks of this difficult and complex job."Pantaleo did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.

Partial video of the encounter obtained by the New York Daily News shows the 6-foot-3, 350-pound Garner becoming irate and refusing to be handcuffed as officers tried to arrest him on suspicion of selling untaxed, loose cigarettes on a sidewalk.The video then shows one of the officers placing Garner in what Police Commissioner William Bratton said Friday appeared to be a chokehold. The tactic, which can be fatal, is prohibited by departmental policy.The city's Civilian Complaint Review Board said Saturday it would review more than 1,000 chokehold complaints it has received against officers over the last five years in an attempt to "discern why officers continue to use this forbidden practice."The department disclosed Pantaleo's reassignment hours after Garner's wife, Esaw, burst into tears at a Harlem rally where Rev. Al Sharpton said his death could strain the black community's relationship with the police department."This is going to be a real test to see where policies are in the city now and whether the change that we feel occurred has occurred," Sharpton said, referring to promises made by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Bratton to improve the relationship between officers and the city's minority communities. "We are the only ones in the social setup that has to deal with fear of cops and robbers."

Another rally was held Saturday afternoon on Staten Island, near where Garner died. A funeral is scheduled for Wednesday at the Bethel Baptist Church in Brooklyn.According to federal court records, three men have sued Pantaleo within the last two years over what they argued were unlawful, racially motivated arrests on Staten Island.In the first lawsuit, settled by the city in January, two black men in their 40s accused Pantaleo and other officers of arresting them without cause and subjecting them to a "humiliating and unlawful strip search" on a Staten Island street that involved ordering them to "pull their pants and underwear down, squat and cough."The men said they were held overnight on charges that were ultimately dismissed seven months later.In a second lawsuit, a man accused Pantaleo and other officers of misrepresenting facts in a police report and other documents to substantiate charges that were eventually dismissed.

Garner, who has been arrested for selling illegal cigarettes numerous times in recent years, told the officers who confronted him Thursday that he had not done anything wrong, according to the video of the arrest."Every time you see me, you want to mess with me. I'm tired of it. It stops today," Garner shouts. "I'm minding my business. Please just leave me alone."As four officers bring him down, Garner is heard gasping, "I can't breathe! I can't breathe!" The video shows one officer using his hands to push Garner's face into the sidewalk.Prosecutors and internal affairs detectives are investigating the death of the father of six and grandfather of two; authorities believe he suffered a heart attack.De Blasio has called the circumstances of his death "very troubling."

More tests are needed to determine the exact cause and manner of Garner's death, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office said.Garner's death evoked memories of a similar incident 20 years ago.Police officer Francis Livoti was dismissed from the NYPD and convicted by a federal jury of violating the civil rights of a Bronx man who died after he apparently used a chokehold on him in 1994.Livoti has denied he used a chokehold, insisting Anthony Baez died from an asthma attack. The case remains one of the most high-profile allegations of police brutality in city history.

A surface-to-air missile struck a Malaysia Airlines plane carrying 298 people that went down Thursday in Ukraine near the Russian border, a U.S. official told ABC News.The official said U.S. intelligence and analysis of the situation determined that it was a single missile that struck the Boeing 777-200 aircraft while at cruising altitude. It is unclear whether the missile was fired from inside Ukrainian or Russian territory and who fired it, the official added.Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 283 passengers and 15 crew members. The airline had earlier said there were 280 passengers.The pro-Russian separatists who control the area where the flight crashed have agreed to allow investigators safe access to the crash site to recover bodies and gather evidence, according to a statement from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Speaking in Detroit, Vice President Joe Biden said the plane had "been shot down, not an accident. Blown out of the sky.""We see reports that there may have been American citizens on board," he added. "Obviously, that’s our first concern. We’re working every minute to try to confirm those reports as I speak."It remains unclear if Americans were on board the flight. Officials said that 154 passengers were Dutch. In addition, according to the latest numbers released by the airline, 43 were Malaysian, 27 Australians, 12 Indonesians, 9 British, 4 Belgians, 4 Germans, 3 Filipinos and 1 Canadian. Nationalities of 41 other passengers remain unknown at this time.Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak said the plane did not make any distress call. He said the route had been deemed safe by the International Civil Aviation Organization despite the ongoing fighting in Ukraine."If it transpires that the plane was indeed shot down, we insist that the perpetrators must swiftly be brought to justice," he added.

Earlier today, Ukrainian officials said a Russian missile shot down the passenger jet. Ukrainian authorities told U.S. Embassy officials that everyone was "believed dead" and that debris was spread out over a 10-mile path near the town of Hrabove in the district of Shakhtars'k.

A statement from the Foreign Ministry in Kiev claimed the plane had been "shot down.""According to the General Staff of Ukrainian Armed Forces, the airplane was shot down by the Russian Buk missile system as the liner was flying at an altitude of 10,000 meters [33,000 feet]," the statement added. "Ukraine has no long-range air defense missile systems in this area. The plane was shot down, because the Russian air defense systems was affording protection to Russian mercenaries and terrorists in this area. Ukraine will present the evidence of Russian military involvement into the Boeing crash."Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko later added, "We are not calling it an accident, or a disaster, but an act of terrorism."The plane had left Amsterdam at 12:15 p.m. (local time) and was estimated to arrive in Kuala Lampur International Airport on Friday at 6:10 a.m. (local time), according to Malaysia Airlines.In a tweet soon after the plane went down, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, "Condolences to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in connection with the crash of a passenger aircraft in Ukraine."A Kremlin statement said Putin opened a meeting with his economic advisers by calling for a moment of silence over the crash."This tragedy would not have happened if there were peace on this land, if the military actions had not been renewed in southeast Ukraine," he said. "And, certainly, the state over whose territory this occurred bears responsibility for this awful tragedy."

President Obama, at an event in Delaware this afternoon, said, "Obviously, the world is watching reports of a downed passenger jet near the Russia-Ukraine border. And it looks like it may be a terrible tragedy. Right now, we're working to determine whether there were American citizens on board. That is our first priority, and I've directed my national security team to stay in close contact with the Ukrainian government."Obama added that the U.S. "will offer any assistance we can to help determine what happened and why. And as a country, our thoughts and prayers are with all the families of the passengers, wherever they call home."

This is the second Malaysia Air plane to be involved in a crash this year.On March 8, Malaysia Air Flight MH370 vanished with 239 people on board after it took off from Kuala Lampur bound for Beijing. Malaysian officials said the plane disappeared somewhere in the Southern Indian Ocean, but no wreckage has ever been recovered.

Study: Little Progress for African-American Men on Racial Equality Since 1970By: Justin Worland

Rates of incarceration and unemployment remain high

In recent years, the U.S. has celebrated the 50th anniversaries of the March on Washington, the Civil Rights Act and a number of other landmark accomplishments considered pivotal in making the U.S. a better place for African Americans.But despite a deep reverence for those accomplishments, a new study suggests that African-American men today face such high levels of unemployment and incarceration that they are in little better position when compared with white men than a half-century ago.The working paper, by University of Chicago researchers Derek Neal and Armin Rick, is based on preliminary findings and has not yet been peer-reviewed.“The growth of incarceration rates among black men in recent decades combined with the sharp drop in black employment rates during the Great Recession have left most black men in a position relative to white men that is really no better than the position they occupied only a few years after the Civil Rights Act,” the study reads.The study uses census data to show that more than 10% of black men in their 30s will be incarcerated at some point during a calendar year. This number was around 2% for white males of the same age group.The study attributes the corrosive impact of incarceration on the African-American community, at least in part, to the institution of more punitive criminal-justice policies.African-American men also appear to face a more difficult employment situation. More than a third of African-American men between the ages of 25 and 49 lacked employment in 2010.“The Great Recession period of 2008–2010 was quite bleak for black men,” the study reads. “Recent levels of labor market inequality between black and white prime-age men are likely not materially different than those observed in 1970.”[FiveThirtyEight]

Rhonda A. Lee (pictured), the Black woman who was fired from her meteorologist job in Shreveport, La., after defending her natural hair on the station’s Facebook page, has just accepted a job with a national weather channel in Colorado.

Lee announced on her Twitter and Facebook pages that she has accepted a meteorology position with WeatherNation in Denver. “By all accounts, it is my dream job and I am thrilled to be a part of the WeatherNation family,” she said Thursday night on Facebook. Lee told NewsOne that she accepted the position a week ago but wanted to fine tune some particulars before making an announcement.The offer came soon after the veteran weather woman had lost hope of ever working in television again.

“A month ago, I told my husband that I’m pretty sure I would never work in weather again,” she said. “I had completely lost faith, but in a matter of a week or so, all of a sudden, three people showed interest in me. It was an awakening is what it was. I really had given up.”Lee had several offers in other markets, including a chief meteorologist position, but went with WeatherNation because it’s a national network that reaches millions of homes. Lee doesn’t know when she will be on-air, but says she will be on Channel 361 on DIRECTV. She, her husband, and their 10-month-old son will be moving to Denver in a few weeks.More than a year and a half has past since Lee was fired from KTBS 3 News, an ABC affiliate in Shreveport,after she responded to users on Facebook who complained about her natural hairstyle. The station said Lee was fired for violating its social media policy. She has filed an EEOC complaint against the station and is in mediation to resolve her dismissal. Lee said she has no regrets about defending her natural hair and says her dispute with the Shreveport station hasn’t been an issue with her new employer.“It wouldn’t require anything more than a brief explanation,” she said. “My new boss said, ‘I heard about that,’ and we moved on so that was it. Every once in a while in life, you find good people with good sense who know talent when they see it and know a good employee when they see it.”Despite the frustration that comes from refusing to change her hair style to have a more mainstream, broadcast aesthetic, Lee says sticking to her values made the pain of unemployment worth it.It’s revealing to me that you should never give up,” she said. “I tell people that all the time in any speech that I give. For me to actually follow my own advice is a pretty beautiful thing.”

(Time) The daring escape comes after days of heavy fighting in northeast Nigeria. More than 60 girls and women kidnapped in northeast Nigeria last month by suspected Islamist militant group Boko Haram have reportedly fled their captors.Their escape was confirmed to news agency AFP by a high-level though unnamed security source in the restive Borno state.A local vigilante, Abbas Gava, also said he had “received an alert from my colleagues … that about 63 of the abducted women and girls had made it back home.”More than 200 schoolgirls abducted in April are still being held by Boko Haram, which seeks to establish a fundamentalist Islamic state in the country’s north.The development follows Friday’s clashes between Nigerian soldiers and Boko Haram militants in Borno. At least 50 insurgents were killed as the Nigerian military repelled an attack on its military base in the town of Damboa, said the Defense Ministry on Saturday.Six Nigerian soldiers, including the commanding officer, died during the fighting, said Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Chris Olukolade.An officer who requested anonymity told the AP that the raid appeared to be a reprisal attack by Boko Haram after the Nigerian military carried out devastating air strikes 24 hours earlier.[AFP]

(The Root) Adm. Michelle Janine Howard became the first female four-star officer in the history of the U.S. Navy, according to a press release.Howard, who was promoted at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, is expected to relieve Adm. Mark Ferguson II as the 38th vice chief of naval operations today as well. The promotion also makes her the first African-American female officer to achieve four-star ranking in the history of the military. "Michelle Howard's promotion to the rank of admiral is the result of a brilliant naval career, one I fully expect to continue when she assumes her new role as vice chief of naval operations, but also it is an historic first, an event to be celebrated as she becomes the first female to achieve this position," Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, who presided over the ceremony and administered the oath of office, said, according to the release."Her accomplishment is a direct example of a Navy that now, more than ever, reflects the nation it serves—a nation where success is not born of race, gender or religion but of skill and ability.""Michelle's many trailblazing accomplishments in her 32 years of naval service are evidence of both her fortitude and commitment to excellence and integrity," Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, added. "I look forward to many great things to come from the Navy's newest four-star admiral!"Howard graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1982 and from the Army’s Command and General Staff College in 1998. She has a master's degree in military arts and sciences.In addition to being the first female four-star admiral, she is also the first African-American woman to command a ship in the U.S. Navy, the release notes.President Obama’s senior adviser, Valerie Jarrett, tweeted out her congratulations to the inspiring admiral, who was awarded the 2011 USO Military Woman of the Year and the 2013 NAACP Chairman’s Image Award.

Black GOP Candidate In Florida Faces Horrific Racism

(HuffPost) Gloreatha "Glo" Scurry-Smith, who is running in the Florida GOP primary to take on Rep. Corrine Brown (D) in November, recently experienced a very disturbing case of racial discrimination.On Sunday, Smith tweeted a picture of a vandalized campaign sign, in which her face was covered in white spray paint:

Smith, who says her husband found the sign in Jacksonville, Florida, told National Review that she "expect[ed] signs to be tampered with or stolen, but not to this extent.”“Throughout this entire incident, I go back to Martin Luther King’s comment that we look forward to a time when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character,” Smith added. “I’ve got too much work to focus on to be bothering with things like this.”Brown said regarding the incident that "to be talking about signs is ludicrous to me -- and you know, and whatever happened was unfortunate but I personally do not get involved in campaigning months in advance."Smith has spoken to numerous local media outlets and posted the following messages on her Facebook page after an initial post about the photo:Her primary opponent, Thuy Lowe, condemned the vandalism."I was shocked by this," Lowe told National Review. "There have been some comments out there that this may have been caused by bigotry. This is a message that she is an African American woman who is a Republican and therefore has a white point of view."The GOP primary will be held on August 26.

Fired Black Employee Sues Paint Company Over Racist Paint Names

(The Daily Caller) A black man in New Jersey has filed a lawsuit against his former employer, Benjamin Moore Paints, which he says named one of its paint colors after him and then fired him when he complained.Clinton Tucker, who managed online sales for Benjamin Moore, which is owned by the conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, said that he was bothered by the names of several of the company’s paint colors, “Clinton Brown,” “Tucker Chocolate,” and “Confederate Red.”“Being a black man named Clinton Tucker, the plaintiff found this to be extremely racially offensive,” reads the complaint, filed in Essex County Court.Tucker claims that the company’s executive management were aware of his displeasure with the color names, but failed to take his complaints seriously and then terminated — allegedly unlawfully — him in March 2014.Tucker worked on a project to create a new line of paint colors. One of the shades was given the name “Tucker Chocolate.”The company already had a color named “Clinton Brown.” A co-worker pointed out the names of the two paint colors, which together contained Tucker’s first and last name, and thought it was funny, according to the lawsuit.“Tucker found it to be repulsive,” the complaint reads.“Coupled with ‘Tucker Chocolate,’ it was racially offensive and demeaning to Clinton Tucker.”Tucker claims that in a meeting in which employees were asked about their favorite Benjamin Moore colors, he turned to a supervisor and said “well you know my least favorite colors.”A colleague then spoke up, saying “if you think that is bad, what about Confederate Red?”“Confederate Red” is another Benjamin Moore paint whose name seemingly references the southern side of the U.S. Civil War.“Despite Mr. Tucker’s repeated complaints and protestations to [Benjamin Moore] management about these appallingly racial color names, no action was ever taken,” Tucker’s suit reads, pointing out that the company still sells the paint colors at its stores and online.Tucker made other allegations, including that the company has a “toxic” work environment that is hostile to minorities.Tucker, who identifies himself in the suit as homosexual, claims that since he started at the company in 2011, “it was clear…that he was not part of the traditional culture of the company.”Approximately 10 of Benjamin Moore’s New Jersey headquarters’ employees were black and only one was homosexual, the suit claims.The 34 year-old Tucker, who had nine years of work experience in online retail marketing, also says that the company denied him promotions and opportunities for growth while promoting whites.His boss ignored an email Tucker sent requesting to be able to take off work to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the suit claims.“This request was ignored and [the director of digital marketing], just mockingly smirked at the plaintiff on Martin Luther King holiday.”Following that incident, Tucker alleges that he was demoted and given fewer responsibilities while white co-workers were given promotions.Tucker claims that he was unlawfully terminated in March 2014.His suit accuses Benjamin Moore of discrimination, a hostile work environment, and retaliation and seeks compensatory and punitive damages.The Daily Caller contacted Tucker’s attorney, Charles Schalk to clarify the accusations.“Yes, the allegation is the colors were named after my client,” Schalk told TheDC.On its website, Benjamin Moore describes “Tucker Chocolate” as “capturing the 1798 color requested by St. George Tucker for his home facing Courthouse Green, this deep brown is classic and understated.”Benjamin Moore Paints did not return TheDC’s request for comment.

A spate of recent shootings across the country underscore the history of violence woven into the very fabric of America, but advocates and activists continue working for peace.Jerad Miller and his wife, Amanda, allegedly ambushed and killed two police officers, who were having lunch in a pizza restaurant in Las Vegas, June 8. According to police, the couple left a swastika and a flag depicting the words “Don’t Tread On Me.” They also pinned a note with the words “The revolution is beginning,” on the dead officers’ bodies. According to initial media reports, the couple committed double suicide in a nearby Walmart. Police later said they killed Mr. Miller in a gun fight and the wife killed herself.In Oregon, police reported a teenager killed a fellow student, wounded a teacher and then killed himself at Reynolds High School June 10. On May 23, Elliot Rodger killed six students in a campus rampage at the University of California at Santa Barbara and three people in his apartment. In Chicago, a 17-year-old was killed and 11 others injured in citywide shootings over Fathers’ Day weekend; three were killed and 20 were wounded in shootings the previous weekend.Political scientists and grassroots advocates say part of the problem is the overall notion that violence solves everything in America and there is an issue of profit over life.“When I think about what’s going on with these shootings, I really think about a society that doesn’t take gun violence seriously, and at the very least they don’t value human life over profitability,” said noted author, activist and professor, Dr. Boyce Watkins.There are just too many guns available in society, and as with the Vegas shooting, the last few have had a serious racial undertone to them, he said. The Millers said they were trying to start a racial war and they could be the spark for similar actions, he added. “The greater concern I certainly have is sometimes these isolated events inspire and encourage other people to actually act on the aggression they might be feeling,” Dr. Watkins told The Final Call. America’s violence is steering her down a path of chaos, and things will get worse before they get better, he added.“It’ll probably never get better because we love selling guns too much, and we’re too addicted to hating Black people, and we have a government that is effectively dysfunctional,” said Dr. Watkins.Black Women for Positive Change, a national policy-focused network, believes America can overcome its violent culture and is working to help bring about peace. At press time, the organization was scheduled to announce the “National Week of Non-Violence,” scheduled for August 16-23. Organizers labeled the event a citizen’s response to ongoing tragedies of school shootings, street and domestic violence and random violent acts by domestic terrorists.“We’re very concerned that we have to move beyond the violence that our nation was born into,” said Dr. Stephanie Meyers, national co-chair. From the genocide of Native Americans to the enslavement of African people, violence is in the country’s foundation, she said.But now it’s time for Americans and people everywhere to find new ways to relate to each other, and manage conflicts and disagreements, without resorting to violence, Dr. Meyers continued.The impact of violence on Blacks has been enormous, particularly from so-called gang fights over turf. It’s caused massive loss of life, but also unacceptable shifts for many families, she said.Dr. Meyers pointed out the September 2013 shooting rampage by Aaron Alexis, who despite saying he’d been hearing voices and was treated for insomnia, killed 12 people on a Navy shipyard in Washington, D.C. as an example of how the growing mental health crisis in the Black community and lack of treatment and care exacerbates the issue of violence.

Tackling the gun supply is one solution, she said. “In Chicago young men are obtaining weapons from illegal and underground suppliers and these weapons are being used for them to kill each other,” said Dr. Meyers.The underlying reason for such fratracide is lack of jobs and opportunity for youth.“If they had opportunities for jobs and for schools, we would certainly not see that same experience,” she added.The quality and type of education youth receive is the key to community empowerment and violence prevention, said the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam during a crime and education forum at Olive-Harvey College in Chicago.“The problem starts with education and the problem will end with the proper education,” said Min. Farrakhan at the March 28 event where he was a guest speaker. “It is not enough to have an education, but we must have the right education, the proper education that allows the one who is educated to use his gifts, skills and talents to solve the problems of his or her time,” he told attendees.Kofi Taharka, chairman of the National Black United Front, said while society talks about peace, it doesn’t put forth alternatives in modern culture or reality. According to the activist, there’s a push to put 1,500 more police on the streets of Houston and 20,000 crimes went uninvestigated. “We’re saying we have to have a 180 degree shift in how we’re thinking about crime, violence and what impacts it. Let’s get to the root cause of it,” said Mr. Taharka.Sociologists point out economics and education are primary factors that contribute to violence and crime, so the answer isn’t more police. They argue the answers lie in shifting resources to projects and programs run by grassroots organizations that have been effective, like Houston-based Project Forward and the Nation of Islam, he argued.Project Forward, founded by Deric Muhammad, is an initiative that focuses on empowering the Black community with principles of brotherhood, family, youth mentorship, respect for life, recycling the Black dollar with Black businesses, proper education, solution-oriented activism and fighting for justice. On Fathers’ Day, Project Fatherhood hosted a “Day of Encouragement for Black Fathers” at MacGregor Park.“In every city there are people who are doing good, direct work that have proven track records (like) the Nation of Islam. If you want to decrease crime, why don’t you give the F.O.I. a contract? They could decrease crime, but they don’t really want to decrease crime or violence,” said Mr. Taharka.Mr. Taharka said the system of violence and the country’s response stems from a system organized and designed based on global White supremacy. “When we fall into negative internal behavior, we’re feeding that system,” he added.To solve the problem, change the language, said Dennis Muhammad, a long-time student F.O.I captain in the Nation of Islam and founder of ENOTA (Educating Neighborhoods to Obey Those in Authority) Project, Inc.. ENOTA works to improve relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve. It also works to empower men to protect their own communities through the Peacekeepers Program.“It’s different when you begin to use language in a way that builds instead of adding to the negativity of the very word,” he said. “When we start using language that is positive, then we can achieve that peace but we can’t stop violence. Peace is achievable, obtainable and sustainable,” added Dennis Muhammad.Attorney Opio Sokoni of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Jacksonville said the various layers of violence spans from school yards to jailhouses. “It’s rooted in a culture that says ‘we love violence,’ and it is spread in music and entertainment with no end in sight,” he told The Final Call. Total change on all levels is needed, said Atty. Sokoni.“It has to be a … change in a culture for a culture to be able to go from being violent, bloodthirsty to more peaceful, more serene, and thinking about alternatives on how to deal with issues,” he added.

Court document: Boy sent to basement without food

DETROIT (AP) — A 12-year-old Detroit boy who was missing for more than a week before he was discovered in his own basement told investigators his stepmother sent him there, according to a court record obtained Friday by a newspaper.The petition, filed in Wayne County juvenile court by Children's Protective Services as part of a custody hearing, was obtained by the Detroit Free Press. A court employee told The Associated Press a petition was filed Friday, but it was not released to the public or the media.According to the Free Press, the document says Charlie Bothuell V was placed in the basement behind boxes and totes by his stepmother, Monique Dillard-Bothuell, and told "not to come out, no matter what he hears."Although Dillard-Bothuell knew her stepson was in the basement, she did not bring him food, according to the petition, which also says: "Charlie reports sneaking upstairs to get food when everyone left the home."Charlie was found Wednesday by Detroit police in the bowels of the multiple-unit condo building where he lived with Dillard-Bothuell and his father, Charlie Bothuell IV. He was evaluated at a hospital and returned to his mother, police spokeswoman Sgt. Eren Stephens said.The AP left messages Friday with Dillard-Bothuell, Charlie Bothuell IV and Bothuell's lawyer, Mark Magidson.

The document obtained by the Free Press also says Bothuell disclosed on Monday that he disciplined his son with a PVC pipe.The petition says that after Charlie was taken to a hospital for treatment, a doctor observed a half-circular scar on the boy's chest. Charlie says the scar was "a result of his father driving a PVC pipe into his chest," according to the petition, which also says the child had old scars on his buttocks from being hit with the pipe.Bothuell has denied abusing his son. Magidson also denied that a pipe was used to beat Charlie.A warrant request in connection with the case has not been turned over to the Wayne County prosecutor's office, spokeswoman Maria Miller said.According to The Detroit News, Magidson said child abuse charges are likely to be filed against Bothuell.Dillard-Bothuell was arrested Thursday on a probation violation related to a misdemeanor gun charge. In court Friday, Dillard-Bothuell was ordered to wear a tether. She's due back in court July 11. Magidson said her arrest was "highly disingenuous."The boy's father, who made tearful television pleas for help while his son was missing, has said he had no idea the boy was in the basement. Bothuell reported his son missing June 14. The boy had been working out at home about 9 p.m., went to use the restroom and never returned, Bothuell told police.Officers searched the home on at least three occasions before they stumbled across the boy apparently hiding behind boxes and a large plastic drum in the basement Wednesday afternoon. Police have said they do not believe the boy had been there the whole time.

KFC says it is investigating a report that the family of a 3-year-old girl who said she was asked to leave one of its restaurants because her scars from a vicious pit bull attack were frightening other customers made up the story to get sympathy — and donations.According to a report published by the Laurel Leader-Call on Tuesday, the story, first posted on Facebook by Victoria Wilcher's grandmother, was "generated out of whole cloth and resulted in the family bilking the public and professionals for more than $135,000 in cash, as well as gifts and free surgeries."Kelly Mullins, Victoria's grandmother, said she was driving her granddaughter home from the hospital when they stopped at a KFC in Jackson, Mississippi, for sweet tea and mashed potatoes.“They just told us, ‘We have to ask you to leave because her face is disrupting our customers,’" Mullins told WAPT-TV earlier this month. "[Victoria] understood exactly what they said."But the paper cites anonymous sources "with deep knowledge of the investigation" who say Mullins and her granddaughter do not appear in surveillance video taken from the restaurant on the day of the alleged incident, and that "no orders were recorded to include mashed potatoes and sweet tea on the same transaction.""We have taken this report very seriously from the beginning," KFC spokesman Rick Maynard told Yahoo News. "Since our franchisee was unable to verify the incident in their internal investigation, they hired a third-party consultant to conduct an independent investigation to help resolve the matter. Along with our franchisee, we remain determined to get to the truth and address the situation appropriately."Maynard said the company expects to complete its investigation "soon.""We are committed to the $30,000 donation to assist with Victoria’s medical bills no matter the outcome," Maynard said.The family of the girl did not immediately respond to a request for comment."I promise [it's] not a hoax," Teri Rials Bates, Victoria's aunt, wrote in a Facebook post. "I never thought any of this would blow up the way it has. The article circling the web calling this a hoax is untrue. The article it self say the investigation is not complete. It is not over until KFC releases a statement."The family has not asked for anything," Bates added. "I have personally watched this family go without to provide for Victoria. They have not and would not do anything to hurt Victoria in any way."Mullins wrote about her experience at KFC on a Facebook page that had been created in April to give friends updates on Victoria's recovery. KFC responded on Facebook the next day."Please accept our sincere apologies while we try to investigate this incident," said a comment submitted by the restaurant. "If you could help provide details of the incident ... we will look into this immediately."After the story went viral, KFC also pledged $30,000 to help pay for Victoria's recovery.Investigators said three pit bulls attacked Victoria in the backyard of her grandfather's home. According to WAPT-TV, the grandfather, Donald Mullins — Kelly Mullins' ex-husband — shot and killed two of the dogs; a third was euthanized. The grandfather and his girlfriend were later arrested on child-endangerment charges.According to Simpson County Sheriff Kenneth Lewis, Donald Mullins was keeping 10 pit bulls at his home at the time of the attack."This is probably the worst [pit bull attack] we've ever had," Lewis said.

African-American fathers defy stereotypes

(STLToday.com) When Larryn Porter leaves his second job, he heads to the home of his 5-year-old son to get him ready for bed and so they can watch a few minutes of wrestling together.Porter, 30, works about 70 hours a week as a mechanic and salesman for an auto parts store. But every Sunday he takes his older two children, both 9 years old, to church with him. Sometimes, he takes their half siblings along, if their fathers aren’t too involved.“I’m trying to find a way to have more time for my children, he said. “You gotta be Superman at times.”Porter is a part of a counternarrative about African-American fathers emerging in popular culture and media.Whether it’s LeBron James in a video shooting hoops with his young sons, one barely above his knee, or Snoop Dogg with his children on the E! Network, the image of the African-American father may be aligning more closely with reality in many homes.A national study released in December found that black fathers who live with their children are just as involved in parenting as other dads — or even more so. In this group, more black fathers reported reading to their children daily, feeding or eating meals with them daily and bathing or dressing them than Hispanic or white fathers, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.African-American fathers are less likely to be living with their children than fathers of other races. Gretchen Livingston, a researcher with the Pew Research Center, says about 44 percent of black fathers were living apart from at least one child 18 years old or younger, citing data from 2008. That compares to 35 percent of Hispanic fathers and 21 percent of white fathers, she said.

But compared to those who also live apart from their children, African-American fathers reported as much involvement or more than white or Hispanic fathers in the largest study of its kind, funded by the CDC.“This isn’t the only study that found this idea of a ‘deadbeat dad’ is a misnomer,” said Patricia Kohl, professor at Washington University’s Brown School of Social Work. She has done research and conducted focus groups completed last year with urban, African-American fathers.“They very much desire to be a part of their children’s lives, even though there were barriers for dads not in the same home,” she said. “As a society, we’ve placed that label on this group, and it’s hard to overcome that, but I really don’t believe it’s accurate.”For many years, the public policy around engaging fathers was about getting them to pay child support, she said.“There’s been a shift at the policy level that father involvement is much more than that,” Kohl said. “It’s also relationship-based.”Her work was done in partnership with the Fathers’ Support Center of St. Louis, founded by Halbert Sullivan.“The African-American father may be trying harder because he’s been knocked down more than anyone else,” Sullivan said. “There are 25 million children in America growing up without a father in the home. A little more than a third are African-American,” he said. “It seems (they) get the finger pointed at them most often.”Porter says his father wasn’t a part of his life growing up. “I met mine at 19; he’s a drunk.”It pushes him to be as involved as he can with his own kids. “I don’t want my children to go through that,” he said.Roberta Coles, professor of sociology at Marquette University has studied race, family and fatherhood. She says while this wasn’t the first study to suggest that African-American fathers are just as engaged in child-rearing as other fathers, it was one of the largest with a national sample of more than 10,000 men. Most of the previous research focused on single mothers, she said. People assumed that nonresident meant being absent.That’s not the case in many African-American households, she explained.It’s true that when men don’t marry the mother of their children, they are less likely to be involved, she said. So, why are black men more likely to be involved even while living apart?“Black men grow up with less gendered views of what men and women are supposed to do,” she said, especially those who grow up in single-parent households. Expectations for unwed fathers may have evolved in the African-American community to a higher standard, researchers speculate.Cbabi Bayoc, a St. Louis artist and father of three, embarked on a project two years ago to paint one African-American father figure every day for a year. The project ended up taking almost 2½ years.“I went into it as a subject to paint and came out of it with a lot of emotion,” he said.One of his clients who purchased three pieces is Roger Humphries Jr., 46, of St. Louis.Humphries says the research doesn’t surprise him because the African-American men in his social circles are also engaged fathers.“I’m an active and present father. That comes from one, a desire to be; two, love for my kids; and three, it’s what I grew up with.”He said it’s worthwhile to consider what causes fathers to be absent in the first place. In previous decades, public policies such as welfare benefited single mothers and drove fathers out of impoverished households in order to qualify for benefits, he said. A bad economy disproportionately impacts minority men, which impacts their ability to provide for families and can lead to less family involvement.Coles agreed that fathers are less likely be involved if they are unemployed or underemployed because mothers won’t allow fathers to see children if they fall behind on child support. Or fathers may feel badly about their lack of ability to provide.Earlier this year, Humphries and Bayoc had an informal gathering with other men to talk about the significance of black fathers.“In the past 10 or 15 years there’s has been outward discussion about men … when you see the destruction of the family structure,” Humphries said.Kenrya Rankin Naasel, a writer based in Washington, D.C., published “Bet on Black: African-American Women Celebrate Fatherhood in the Age of Barack Obama” last fall. She was raised by a single father, and said she was motivated to work on the compilation of essays because of the discrepancy between her own experience and the stereotypes about black fathers.“They take being a father just as seriously as anyone else,” she said.She remembers a Mother’s Day more than 20 years ago when she painted her father a sign that read, “Happy Mother’s/Father’s Day,” because in her life, he was both.She says the study results may reflect the years of outreach and programs for African-American fathers.“The hope is that those programs are taking root, fathers are learning skills and how important it is to be involved with their children’s lives,” she said.She has a 3-year-old daughter and two teenage stepdaughters with her husband.When she needs parenting advice, she calls her dad.Aisha is the Home and Family editor at the Post-Dispatch. Follow her on Twitter @AishaS or on Facebook at facebook.com/aishasultan.

Obama has tough love for young people in Tumblr student loan chat 'You know, work is not always fun' By Liz Goodwin, Yahoo News

President Barack Obama had some tough love for young people in a discussion on student loans hosted by Tumblr on Tuesday afternoon, warning them not to waste their time while in college and reminding them that they might have to take a job they don’t like to pay off their debts.

Obama told the audience of Tumblr users gathered at the White House that despite skyrocketing tuition costs, college is still worth it for most people.“Is this a good investment? It absolutely is,” the president said in response to a question from a Tumblr user about sky-high loans. “It continues to be a very smart investment for you to go to college.”But the president also added that college is not for everyone and suggested that some young people might prefer to try trade school. He also said they should remain “practical” about choosing a career that will actually pay off their loans.“I worked for a year in a job I wasn’t interested in, because I wanted to pay off my loans,” he said of his time at a law firm. “You know, work is not always fun. And you can’t always follow your bliss right away.”The discussion was moderated from the White House by the microblogging site’s 27-year-old founder, David Karp. Karp, who founded Tumblr at age 21, skipped college in favor of the startup world.But the president said other young people should not follow in Karp’s shoes.“You wouldn’t know it looking at you, but you’re like LeBron or Durant,” Obama said, referring to the NBA stars. He said students shouldn’t bank on becoming superstars without a college degree.Obama appeared to be the most moved by a question from a Tumblr user that veered from the topic of college loans to ask what the country can do about shootings that take place on school campuses around the country.“My biggest frustration so far is the fact that this society has not been willing to take some basic steps to keep guns out of the hands of people who can do just unbelievable damage,” Obama said. “We’re the only developed country where this happens. ... It happens once a week. And it’s a one-day story.”The president said he is astonished that the Sandy Hook shootings a year and a half ago did not result in a change in gun laws. (A bill to strengthen background checks failed in the Senate last year.)“I have been in Washington for a while now, and most things don’t surprise me. The fact that 20 6-year-olds were gunned down in the most violent fashion possible and this town couldn’t do anything about it was stunning to me,” Obama said, referring to Washington, D.C.He added: “The country has to do some soul-searching about this.”Tumblr solicited questions from its users — 40 percent of whom are between 18 and 34 years old — beginning last Thursday for the discussion. Yahoo acquired Tumblr on May 20, 2013. Ahead of the chat, the president expanded a program so that millions more borrowers can qualify for lower monthly payments, capped at 10 percent of their income. And he used part of the discussion to stump for a bill introduced this week by Senate Democrats, which would allow many borrowers to refinance their old student debts.Critics of the bill and the president’s executive action say they don’t do enough to address the root problem: higher education’s skyrocketing cost. Obama didn’t discuss specific ways colleges could keep costs down, but said he has urged college presidents to tackle that problem. The president often says he wants the country to lead the world in the share of the population that has a four-year degree by 2020. But lightning-fast increases in tuition, especially at public institutions, have made it more challenging for low-income and middle-class young people to go to college. By this spring, average college debt will reach $30,000. The total amount of outstanding student debt passed $1 trillion last year.The president has held “White House Socials” before, answering questions on Twitter, Reddit and other platforms. This was his first time using Tumblr for such an event.

O.J. Simpson files new appeal in Las Vegas robbery case

(WTSP) LAS VEGAS - O.J. Simpson's lawyers resubmitted a Nevada Supreme Court appeal Wednesday seeking a new trial on grounds that the imprisoned former football star was misled by his lawyer and didn't get a fair trial in his Las Vegas kidnapping and armed robbery case.The 102-page document asks the seven justices to reconsider whether Simpson's lead attorney at the time, Yale Galanter, had advance knowledge of the ill-fated September 2007 confrontation involving Simpson, several other men and two sports memorabilia dealers at a Las Vegas casino hotel.Evidence at trial "tended to indicate that Galanter was involved in the alleged conspiracy," current Simpson lawyers Patricia Palm, Ozzie Fumo and Tom Pitaro say in the appeal. "Galanter's personal interest in hiding his pre-incident involvement is sufficiently substantial to indicate the existence of an actual conflict."Palm declined additional comment about the appeal, which was initially stalled by size and formatting issues after she submitted it May 21. Since last week, Palm double-spaced the document according to Chief Justice Mark Gibbon's instructions and re-filed it.The justices haven't decided if they will hold hearings on Simpson's latest appealon Simpson's latest appeal and didn't immediately set a date for a decision, court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer said. The court is Nevada's only appellate bench and cases can take months or longer to decide.The high court in September 2010 rejected a previous appeal by Galanter on behalf of Simpson.The new effort alleges that Galanter's conflict of interest skewed his representation of Simpson in a trial also tainted by the sports, television and movie star's notoriety stemming from his acquittal in the June 1994 slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles.The 20th anniversary of the slayings is next week.Simpson, now 66, is serving nine to 33 years at a Nevada state prison in Lovelock in the Las Vegas robbery case. He's not eligible for parole until late 2017.Galanter on Wednesday defended his performance on Simpson's behalf.The Miami-based lawyer pointed to Clark County District Court Judge Linda Marie Bell's ruling in November - after five days of hearings last May and several months reviewing the case record - that Simpson failed to demonstrate how Galanter's actions led to Simpson's conviction.Bell denied Simpson's request for release and a new trial. She said also that evidence was overwhelming that Simpson orchestrated the September 2007 armed kidnapping and robbery at the Palace Station hotel."Judge Bell saw through his and his lawyers' charade and kicked him to the curb," Galanter said.Simpson continues to say he was trying to retrieve items that had been stolen from him after a 1997 civil case put him on the hook for a $33.5 million wrongful-death judgment.He testified last year that he thought he had a right to get his belongings back, and that he never knew any of the men with him were carrying guns.The NFL Hall of Famer didn't testify at trial in Las Vegas. He told Bell that Galanter advised him not to.

It's a significant hike, raising the rate more than $5 over what minimum wage workers currently make in the state of Washington. It's also well above the federal minimum wage rate of $7.25.As other cities, states and Congress continue to fight over raising the minimum wage by even smaller amounts, Seattle business owners will already be learning how to survive while paying workers top dollar.Washington business owner David Jones planned to open an additional location of Blazing Onion Burger in Seattle, but now he's going to wait to see how the new law plays out."I would love to come to Seattle, but I have to do it responsibly and wait until I have more information," Jones said.Related: Washington state defies minimum wage logicOne point of controversy prompted the International Franchise Association to threaten to sue the city within hours of the bill's passage.Under the law, businesses with fewer than 500 workers are given more time to comply. That would be fine with the franchisees, if they were considered one of those smaller businesses.Instead, the law states that a business owner has to count all employees in the U.S., likely putting those affiliated with a national franchisor in the large-business category.Franchises are independently owned even though they use a brand name, said Steve Caldeira, the IFA president. But under the new law, a Subway shop that has eight workers will have to pay a $15 wage years before a non-franchised sandwich shop with the same amount of workers.Some small business owners are embracing the change."Anytime the workers in a city get a raise, they're going to have more money in their pockets, and they're going to eat more ice cream," said Molly Moon Neitzel, the owner of Molly Moon's six ice cream stores in Seattle.Neitzel said her payroll costs will increase, but expects an increase in demand. She said she would rather her bottom line take a hit than raise prices.That's not true for Dick's Drive-In Restaurant."We're all for higher wages," said Jasmine Donovan, vice president at the local burger joint that now has five Seattle locations and 200 workers.The chain already pays starting employees $10.25 an hour, but it will have to start paying more by 2016. Plus, Donovan expects to raise the wage of other employees to preserve theexisting wage structure and retain good workers.She expects to absorb the hike by raising prices."Seattle wanted a higher minimum wage and hopefully our customers will be willing to pay for it in higher prices," Donovan said.

This 'Little Hero' Saved His 10-Year-Old Neighbor From Being Abducted In An Incredible WayThe Huffington Post | By Joseph Erbentraut

If it weren't for the intervention of a brave 6-year-old boy, this story might have had a very different ending.But instead, Kaylen Woodard's quick thinking is being credited with stopping the attempted abduction of the youngster's 10-year-old neighbor on Chicago's South Side.According to ABC Chicago, Kaylen was playing with his next-door neighbor, Marcy, in front of their homes in the city's Chicago Lawn neighborhood when a stranger grabbed Marcy and tried to pull her into his car. Kaylen reportedly kicked the stranger in the leg, giving his friend a chance to escape.When Marcy's mother, Tracey Edwards, looked out the window to check on the kids, she saw her daughter running toward the house. She ran outside to try and find the man who attempted the abduction, but he was already gone, KMOV reports. A police investigation into the incident is ongoing."We call [Kaylen] our little hero," Edwards told the station. "We are blessed he was there."

Legendary author Maya Angelou diesBy Faith Karimi, CNN

(CNN) -- Maya Angelou, a renowned poet, novelist and actress whose work defied description under a simple label, has died, her literary agent, Helen Brann, said Wednesday.She died at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Brann said.A professor, singer and dancer, Angelou's work spans several professions. In 2011, President Barack Obama awarded her with the Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor.She spent her early years studying dance and drama in San Francisco, but dropped out at age 14, instead becoming the city's first African-American female cable car conductor.Angelou later returned to high school to finish her diploma and gave birth a few weeks after graduation. While the 17-year-old single mother waited tables to support her son, she acquired a passion for music and dance, and toured Europe in the mid-1950s in the opera production "Porgy and Bess." In 1957, she recorded her first album, "Calypso Lady."In 1958, Angelou become a part of the Harlem Writers Guild in New York and also played a queen in "The Blacks," an off-Broadway production by French dramatist Jean Genet.Affectionately referred to as Dr. Angelou, the professor never went to college. She has more than 30 honorary degrees and taught American studies for years at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem."I created myself," she has said. "I have taught myself so much."Angelou was born April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. She grew up between St. Louis and the then-racially-segregated town of Stamps, Arkansas.The famous poet got into writing after a childhood tragedy that stunned her into silence for years. When she was 7, her mother's boyfriend raped her. He was later beaten to death by a mob after she testified against him."My 7-and-a-half-year-old logic deduced that my voice had killed him, so I stopped speaking for almost six years," she said.From the silence, a louder voice was born.Her list of friends is as impressive as her illustrious career. Talk show queen Oprah Winfrey referred to her as "sister friend." She counted Martin Luther King Jr., with whom she worked during the Civil Rights movement, among her friends. King was assassinated on her birthday.Angelou spoke at least six languages, and worked at one time as a newspaper editor in Egypt and Ghana. During that period, she wrote "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," launching the first in a series of autobiographical books."I want to write so well that a person is 30 or 40 pages in a book of mine ... before she realizes she's reading," Angelou said.She was also one of the first black women film directors. Her work on Broadway has been nominated for Tony Awards.Before making it big, the 6-foot-tall wordsmith also worked as a cook and sang with a traveling road show. "Look where we've all come from ... coming out of darkness, moving toward the light," she once said. "It is a long journey, but a sweet one, bittersweet."CNN's Marlena Baldacci contributed to this report.

Maya Angelou To Miss MLB Civil Rights Events Due To Health Concerns

(Inquisitr.com) Maya Angelou had to pull out of an MLB even honoring civil rights leaders and those who fought to break the color barrier in baseball due to health problems, according to an ABC News report. Major League Baseball had planned to honor Angelou at the 2014 MLB Beacon Awards Luncheon.For those who may have missed it, Major League Baseball is honoring Jackie Robinson and other African-American baseball players and civil rights leaders instrumental to the integration of professional baseball. They are particularly honoring the Negro Leagues and those who played in them. Teams are wearing throwback Negro League jerseys and many players are wearing the number 42 to honor Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play Major League Baseball. Unfortunately, Maya Angelou’s health concerns preclude her attendance at the Beacon Awards Luncheon this Friday.Despite Maya Angelou’s absence, the event – which is being held in Houston before the Astro’s Negro League tribute game – will go on as scheduled. In addition to Maya Angelou, who will be awarded in absentia, Major League Baseball will be honoring Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records, Jim Brown – of the Cleveland Browns – and television personality Robin Roberts, according to a Star Tribunereport.Maya Angelou did not disclose the nature of her illness, but the 86-year-old has recently cancelled other recent events due to unexpected health ailments.According to a report in the Houston Chronicle, Frank Robinson, the first African-American to serve as a manager for a Major League Baseball team and who starred for the Baltimore Orioles – the Astro’s opponent on the night of the Civil Rights Tribute game – had this to say about Maya Angelou:“Dr. Maya Angelou is a powerful representation of everything we celebrate and recognize for the Civil Rights Game. Throughout her life and through her unprecedented roster of achievements, Dr. Angelou has exemplified the very definition of ‘pioneer.’ We wish she could be with us in person for this well-deserved recognition, and everyone at Major League Baseball wishes her a full and speedy recovery.”The same article quotes Houston Astros President of Business Operations Reid Ryan:“While we are sad that Dr. Angelou is unable to join us, we certainly understand that her health comes first, we wish her a speedy recovery and will be thinking of her on May 30th.”Dr. Maya Angelou is best known for her writing, which often addresses themes of racism and the struggle for civil rights. Angelou first came to national prominence with the release of her autobiographical I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.We at The Inquisitr join Major League Baseball in wishing Dr. Maya Angelou a fast and complete recovery and in thanking her for her contribution to the Civil Rights Movement.

CHICAGO (FinalCall.com) - When an Ohio judge sentenced Kelley Williams-Bolar to jail for enrolling children in a suburban school district where their grandfather lived sharp words were spoken. “I will make an example out of you,” said the judge.She was right.Ms. Williams-Bolar is an example of a courageous Black woman who feared for the safety of her children when her Akron home was burglarized and a mother who wanted her children to have a good education.She shared her story May 10 at Metropolitan Apostolic Church, welcomed by the Rev. Leon Finney, Jr., at a program organized by Phil Jackson and the Black Star Project, a group devoted to making sure Black children are properly educated.Ms. Williams-Bolar, with teenage daughter Jada by her side, brought the audience to tears as she shared the ordeal—and how her father, who paid taxes in the school district—died in prison but was defiant to the end. The daughter and father were accused of fraud and theft. Ms. Williams-Bolar was working with special needs students at a public school, had never been in trouble and was going to school part-time after a divorce. Her home was broken into and Akron schools weren’t good. After a talk with her dad, she agreed to enroll her girls where he lived. She knew it wasn’t uncommon for children to attend schools outside of where they lived.

“When I enrolled them I figured, ‘Now they got a chance; they got an opportunity.’ This district for the most part is all-White, my kids excelled in that district even after all that had happened to me,” she said. In the second year, a letter came saying the children were ineligible to attend school in the district but asked her to come in and work things out, Ms. Williams-Bolar said. Getting a grandparent-power-of-attorney document and meeting with school officials did nothing, she said. The district refused to accept the grandparent-power-of-attorney; a court upheld that decision. She withdrew her children. The school district had paid a private detective to follow and investigate her. Some 18 months later, with her children no longer in the district, Ms. Williams-Bolar was indicted for grand theft of services. Accused of stealing $30,000 worth of education, tried and convicted, she was given 10 years in jail. Represented by a lawyer she said did little but take her money, Ms. Williams-Bolar was shaken, scared and stressed out. The judge told her: “I will stop you from graduating from college.” But press coverage of the case had increased. The mother’s sentence was brought down to two years probation, restitution, regular check-ins with a probation officer and holding down a job. “ ‘You did wrong so I am going to give you a felony but I want you to maintain a 40 hour job a week? ’ ” continued Ms. Williams-Bolar, repeating the onerous terms imposed by the judge. She served nine days in jail. She also suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Once released, she barely left her room, or spoke to her children, or family members.Daughter Jada said she lost her mother for a year because of PTSD. Jada also felt guilty. She felt responsible for her mother’s woes and was teased by classmates.Perhaps most painful and infuriating is the death of Edward L. Williams. The 65-year-old man died after serving 11 months in prison. He had a month left on his sentence.

The father and daughter were tried in 2010. Under heavy pressure, Ohio’s governor pardoned Ms. Williams-Bolar. Her father was not convicted in the education theft case. He was charged later with fraud related to his disability, receipt of social security and state benefits and was convicted. His daughter said her father was targeted—and another example made. Requests for an early release were denied, though Mr. Williams was largely hospitalized while in prison.But, Ms. Williams-Bolar said, her father was strong to the end. “ ‘Do what you are going to do anyway, and I told her what I had to tell you,’ ” Ms. Williams-Bolar said her father told the judge at his sentencing. She was not allowed to visit him in prison because the two had been accused of a conspiracy. When finally given special permission to visit, he was shackled to a bed, she recalled. He lost the ability to walk in prison, recovered but suffered from kidney failure, was incapacitated and passed away, Ms. Williams-Bolar said.Sitting next to her mother, Jada broke down and cried as her grandfather’s suffering was recounted. It was her first time hearing the full story. He passed away May 10, 2012.“Kelley Williams-Bolar can be compared to Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglas, George Washington and other great Americans who stood up to tyranny. They arrested her, tried her, convicted her and jailed her for wanting the best education for her daughters,” said the Black Star Project.Mr. Jackson is calling for a federal law that would prohibit jailing parents for sending children to the wrong school district. There was also a call for Barack Obama to grant Ms. Williams-Bolar a presidential pardon.Ms. Williams-Bolar’s Chicago visit was sponsored by ABBA Church of Renewed Faith, King of Glory COGIC, Memorial Baptist Church, Metropolitan Apostolic Church, Prologue Schools, Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture at University of Chicago and The Black Star Project.“She is a profile in courage,” said Mansong, a musician and activist.Ms. Williams-Bolar is working on a book and there are plans for a movie. She isn’t rich. Her speaking tour is designed to pay for Jada’s education. If money isn’t raised, Jada will be back in public school.

In the almost all-white town of Wolfeboro, N.H., resident Jane O'Toole was in a restaurant in March when, she says, she overheard the police commissioner use the n-word. She wrote the town manager about the language.Wolfeboro Police Commissioner Robert Copeland wrote her back acknowledging that he'd called the president the n-word and adding that he had no intention of apologizing."I believe I did use the 'N' word in reference to the current occupant of the Whitehouse [sic]," Copeland wrote in the email, the Associated Press reports. "For this, I do not apologize—he meets and exceeds my criteria for such."At a meeting Thursday, residents crammed inside the Wolfeboro Public Library, with many calling for the commissioner's resignation, AP reports."Comments like these, especially coming from a public official, are not only inexcusable but also terribly, unfortunately, reflects poorly on our town," said O'Toole, who AP reports was met with resounding applause.

Copeland refused to speak with AP and sat through the majority of the meeting with his arms folded across his chest, the news site reports. As commissioner, Copeland is responsible for hiring, firing and disciplining officers in the town of Wolfeboro, which AP reports has only 20 blacks out of 6,300 residents. AP also noted that the town's police department is all white.Commission Chairman Joseph Balboni Jr. told AP that he didn't plan to ask Copeland to retire but said that he would hold a private meeting with other commissioners to "solve the matter."Town Manager David Owen told AP that he finds Copeland's comment "reprehensible" but noted that his hands were tied, since Copeland is an elected official who is still in the first year of a three-year term.While AP notes that many arrived with signs and T-shirts with the word "resign" written on them, and some two dozen people spoke calling for Copeland's resignation, two people defended the commissioner.Resident Frank Bader used New Hampshire's liberal leanings against those who blasted the commissioner for what he considered to be free speech. "All this man did was express his displeasure with the man who's in office," Bader said.At the end of the meeting, AP notes, many hung around to speak directly to Copeland, but the news source notes that the police commissioner simply sat there and refused to acknowledge them.

Twin sisters who admitted to killing their mother during a brutal brawl inside their Georgia home nearly convinced investigators that they had only stumbled across the grisly crime scene and wanted to help catch the ruthless killer.The teary-eyed twins, Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah Whitehead, initially told police that they walked into a blood-soaked Conyers home — located about 25 miles east of Atlanta — and found their dead mother, Jarmecca, in January 2010.And at first glance, detectives had no reason to suspect the 16-year-old sisters had anything to do with the vicious stabbing and even tried to console the girls during questioning.“It was the bloodiest scene I think I’d ever been to,” Conyers Police Department Lt. Chris Moon told WXIA-TV.“As soon as you opened the door, you could smell the blood — the copper-iron smell in the air.”

The 34-year-old mother’s body was submerged in a bathtub. She had been stabbed multiple times in the chest, back and neck — where her spinal cord was partially severed.The local NBC affiliate obtained footage from a surveillance camera inside an interrogation room as detectives spoke to the teens after the murder.“We were treating them as victims, witnesses who had come home and found their mother dead,” Moon said.Jasmiyah told police that she found her mother’s body in the tub after they returned home from school and followed the blood trail to the bathroom.“I went into her room and I saw blood all over the floor, and I went in there and I seen her and I touched her,” she told investigators, according to the clips aired by the news station.At one point, the two girls were left alone in the room and they continued to cry crocodile tears.“I want my mommy,” Jasmiyah wailed.“You’ve gotta be strong, because I’m going to make sure they find the person who did it,” her sister said.But their story began to unravel after police noticed the twisted sisters were wearing gloves to hide what appeared to be cuts from a knife and bite marks.“That night, we started to have suspicions,” Rockdale County District Attorney Richard Read told the news station.“Just something didn’t add up. Something didn’t seem right.”Investigators later found that the girls had been about two hours late for school after they hitchhiked a ride from a stranger at a nearby gas station.The twins had a tumultuous relationship with their mother and had recently moved back into the house after spending some time with their grandmother.Tasmiyah admitted that she had threatened her mother before, but said that she never meant any harm.“I told her that I wish she were dead and she really did die,” the teen told cops in the interrogation tapes. “I told her that plenty of times and she never died.”Cops then decided they would put the sisters in different rooms to speak to them separately.The teens maintained their innocence as investigators continued to poke holes in their stories, but it would be several months before the girls would eventually confess.The news station plans to air footage from their confessions on Tuesday night.jkemp@nydailynews.com

Remember this guy?Frank Taaffe was George Zimmerman‘s best friend and former neighborhood watch co-worker who defended Zimmerman killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Today, Taaffe has had a change of heart.According to Gawker, Taaffe is working on his faith and relationship with God after experiencing a significant amount of loss in his family.Taaffe, who long identified himself as Zimmerman’s best friend and told anyone who would listen that Florida’s most famous armed self-appointed watchman was a victim and a hero, told local TV station News 13 that he had to take an agonizing reappraisal after a series of tragic deaths in his own family.“What I know of George and his tendencies and also my opinion is that he racially profiled Trayvon Martin that night because if that had been a white kid on a cell phone, walking through our neighborhood, he wouldn’t have stayed on him the way he did and that’s a fact and I believe that in my heart,” Taaffe told reporters.Taaffe didn’t mention if he’s still friends with Zimmerman, but he is asking for forgiveness.I can only ask for the country to forgive me and today I believe that he racially profiled him based on the color of his skin. Reporter: Some people may wonder what does Frank Taaffe have to gain by doing this? Are you working on a book? No book. A TV show? No. I’m just working on me right now and getting right with God.”During the Trayvon Murder trial, Taaffe was one of Zimmerman’s biggest supporters. In 2010, his statements on Martin sparked a lot of conversation about the trial.“George did not surveil just one group of people,” Taaffe said at the time. “You’re asking if George profiled one group of people in my mind. And George looked at the whole landscape when he surveilled our property. It just so happened that the prior eight burglaries were perpetrated by young black males.”These days, Taaffe is sending blessings to Trayvon’s family.Taaffe also expressed his condolences to Trayvon Martin’s parents, saying, “I’m sorry that you lost your son, I know what that’s like and I wish things had been different.”Taaffe has had his own share of trouble with the law, including a DUI and arrests for domestic violence. What’s your take on Taaffe’s mea culpa? We’re thinking it’s too little, too late. SOURCE: Gawker | PHOTO CREDIT: Handout

When Tariq Bashir earned his associate’s degree after four hard years (delayed by major health issues) he never thought his wheelchair would keep him from accepting his diploma on stage during the Central New Mexico (CNM) Community College graduation. “It’s supposed to be the happiest day of your life,” Bashir told KOB Eyewitness News 4.

Two weeks before the commencement, Bashir said that an activities supervisor informed him that, because of safety concerns, he would not be allowed to use the ramp to the stage to accept his diploma. The student took the issue to the dean and the disabilities office. The response from Diana Myklebust, CNM Administrative Technical Assistant, was an email that read in part, “…because of safety concerns the decision to not allow wheelchairs onto the stage area stands." The report did not explain what the ‘safety concerns’ were specifically.

Bashir was disappointed and told the station, "I'm not allowed to go up on stage to get my degree. I have got to go to the bottom of the stage and not get that shining moment like everybody else was getting.” The milestone was marred. “They didn’t hear my name being called. They didn’t see me getting my degree in hand. They just saw me rolling back to my sitting position,” the graduate told KOB.Mr. Bashir was surprised that in all previous graduations, the access and safety issues had not been resolved. He’s hoping that it will be dealt with in the future so no wheelchair bound students will be made to feel different.

KOB notes that Bashir was shot by an Albuquerque Police Department officer and paralyzed from the waist down in 2000 when he was accused of a killing. He pleaded guilty to a charge of voluntary manslaughter and has since been working to turn his life around.Video and more info: KOB

Donnell Flora, 25, (inset) was charged in connection
with the shooting death of 14-year-old Endia Martin as friends and family members are pictured reacting to the news of her death.

An uncle who was paralyzed after being shot in 2010 took a bus to deliver a loaded revolver to his 14-year-old niece just before a fatal confrontation fueled by comments made on social media, Cook County prosecutors said Wednesday.The uncle knew his niece planned to use the .38 Special to confront the onetime friend over a feud about a boy, prosecutors said. Endia Martin, 14, was fatally shot as she tried to run back inside her cousin’s home Monday afternoon in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.

Prosecutors revealed that a witness to the shooting had captured the entire incident on video with a cell phone and that the evidence was now in the hands of authorities.The suspect’s uncle, Donnell Flora, 25, appeared in court Wednesday in a wheelchair, wiping his face with his hand as a judge told him he was being charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder. He was ordered held on $3 million bail after prosecutors said he knew the niece planned to take the gun to a fight.He was the third individual to be charged in connection with the incident. A 17-year-old boy was arrested on weapons and other charges for allegedly trying to hide the gun after Endia was fatally shot in the back.The Tribune is not naming that boy or the 14-year-old murder suspect because both were charged as juveniles.In a brief interview Wednesday at her home, the girl’s mother said her daughter and Endia graduated from elementary school together last year and often communicated on Facebook.“That's how (the shooting) started,” she said in an apparent reference to Facebook.Authorities said the shooting happened after the girl and Endia argued over a boyfriend, a dispute that turned violent after both sides issued taunts on Facebook. A family member said the two planned to meet after school Monday in what turned into a violent confrontation between two groups of the girls’ friends.On Monday afternoon, Flora took a bus to meet his niece after she had requested a gun to use in a fight, Assistant State’s Attorney Jaime Santini. said in court. He handed her the loaded handgun near the scene of the shooting, he said.As Endia was leaving her cousin’s home with a group in the 900 block of West Garfield Boulevard, she was confronted by the 14-year-old girl and others with her, Santini said.Flora’s niece pointed the gun at the aunt of a 16-year-old girl in Endia’s group who pushed the gun away, Santini said. The 16-year-old girl then swung a lock on a chain at the 14-year-old girl’s head but missed.The younger girl then opened fire, striking the 16-year-old in the left bicep and fatally wounding Endia as she tried to run back into the home, Santini said. She also fired at others in Endia’s group who were running away, but no one else was shot, he said.Prosecutors said Tuesday that the gun “malfunctioned” the first time the girl tried to shoot. She then handed the weapon to others in her group who unjammed the weapon. The girl than raised the gun again and began firing.

The 14-year-old girl was arrested near the scene and told police her uncle gave her the gun after she requested it for the fight, Santini said. Flora also admitted providing her with the weapon, he said.The alleged shooter, who had never been arrested before, was on the honor roll at Hope College Prep High School, played on the freshman-sophomore basketball team and was a student leader, according to her lawyer.But her social media accounts appeared to show a different side.“Bout to beat some a--” the girl tweeted about two hours before the fatal confrontation. She also posted a photo on Facebook of herself sticking out her tongue and holding up her middle finger. The photo was captioned: “I Don't Chase Em ' I RePlace 'Em.”Peering from the doorway of her home, the girl’s mom offered her condolences Wednesday to Endia’s family.She also expressed concern about her daughter.“I don’t want to say anything until my daughter is OK,” she said.sschmadeke@tribune.comrsobol@tribune.comTwitter: @SteveSchmadekeTwitter @RosemarySobol1

Nigeria's grief over the abducted school girls is uniting our country

Soldiers guard a government secondary school in Chibok, Nigeria,
where gunmen abducted 234 girls.

The mood in Nigeria at present reminds me of one of those adventure-horror films where an unseen fiend is let loose upon a community and survivors keep glancing backwards in dread, not knowing when or whom it might strike next.Just when the country was nursing its grief caused by the rush-hourbombing of a bus park in the capital Abuja, which killed 71 people and wounded dozens more, we were struck another devastating blow: the abduction of 234 girls from their school in Chibok, in the north-eastern Bornu State. Boko Haram terrorists claimed responsibility for the bombing; they are also the chief suspects in this fresh brutishness.More than a week since they disappeared, the girls' whereabouts are still unknown. About 44 escaped by jumping from the back of trucks used to ferry them away or by sneaking out of the kidnappers' camp deep inside the Sambisa forest. This latest tragedy has dominated national conversation and consumed columns in our newspapers. At Christian and Muslim gatherings prayers have been offered for the girls' safety.In the days since they went missing, almost every friend or colleague I have spoken to on the phone has devoted the first minutes of our chat to expressing their horror at the abduction. Despite what one would imagine is the bottomless capacity of Nigerians to absorb catastrophe – what with the series of carnages that have steadily erupted in the country over the past year, at least – people here seem particularly affected.Perhaps it is the audacity with which the crime was perpetrated, the innocence of the victims, or horror at what the children might be going through wherever they might be – Boko Haram has abducted women and girls in the past to serve as sex slaves and chars.The Nigerian military interrupted the national mood of grief when its spokesperson announced two days after the incident that the missing girls had been rescued. But national jubilation quickly deflated when the school's principal and the students' parents revealed the story to be false. Now our collective horror at the abductions is almost equalled by our revulsion at the military's brazen deceit. What on earth could they have been thinking?Additional claims by some of the parents have led to more criticism of the military. Fathers and mothers, who in desperation marched into the Sambisa forest to search for their missing daughters, say they saw no trace of military presence in the area; no sign of any search and rescue operation. Some of these parents have now hired motorcycles to help their search.Beyond grief, many Nigerians are also bewildered by the abductions. How many trucks were required to transfer well in excess of 200 girls? Was the convoy not spotted by anyone as it left the school? Were there no security agents along the route?As usual, politicians, many of who delight in riding the waves of ethnic and religious sentiments, are trying to take advantage of the country's sober mood. Members of Nigeria's two main opposition parties, the PDP and APC, have openly blamed the ongoing terrorism on their opponents who they claim are orchestrating the acts of violence for political gain.But this time Nigerians are not falling too easily. Unlike bloodletting in our land from an earlier era, where machetes and daggers were used to lash out at specific ethnic and religious groups, the recent series of bomb blasts have not discriminated. Christians and Muslims have been slaughtered, as have Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. For a change, every Nigerian is united in his or her need for safety. The 234 missing girls are not being seen as Hausa or Igbo or Yoruba; they are simply people's children.I hope this spirit of unity lives on, that it extends beyond grief and the need for security. In their attempt to tear Nigeria apart with their reckless destruction, the Boko Haram terrorists have inadvertently succeeded in showing just how much Nigerians can care about one another.

(Gawker.com) A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences uses statistical techniques to estimate that one in every 25 death row inmates in America would be exonerated, given enough time and attention.The study builds on the data accumulated in the course of years of previous exonerations(examples of which are here) in order to make estimates about the death row population as a whole. Here is the abstract of the study, bolding ours:The rate of erroneous conviction of innocent criminal defendants is often described as not merely unknown but unknowable. There is no systematic method to determine the accuracy of a criminal conviction; if there were, these errors would not occur in the first place. As a result, very few false convictions are ever discovered, and those that are discovered are not representative of the group as a whole. In the United States, however, a high proportion of false convictions that do come to light and produce exonerations are concentrated among the tiny minority of cases in which defendants are sentenced to death. This makes it possible to use data on death row exonerations to estimate the overall rate of false conviction among death sentences. The high rate of exoneration among death-sentenced defendants appears to be driven by the threat of execution, but most death-sentenced defendants are removed from death row and resentenced to life imprisonment, after which the likelihood of exoneration drops sharply. We use survival analysis to model this effect, and estimate that if all death-sentenced defendants remained under sentence of death indefinitely, at least 4.1% would be exonerated. We conclude that this is a conservative estimate of the proportion of false conviction among death sentences in the United States.The gravity of the death sentence is what draws the scrutiny necessary to result in an exoneration. When the death sentence is out of the picture, the probability of exoneration drops. So for at least one in 25 death row inmates, the attention drawn by the possibility of capital punishment could be the only force potent enough to save them from capital punishment.The system is not a good one.[Photo: AP]